Ecclesiastes 7:23-29, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Ecclesiastes 7:23-29
A Failed Search and the Dangerous-Woman Saying
The search fails, and a bitter saying about the woman
He said, I will be wise; but it was far from him. That which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out? He applied his heart to know the wickedness of folly, and found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets.
Whoso pleases God shall escape from her; the sinner shall be taken. Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one: one man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those have I not found. Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
The failed search is honest. The woman-as-snare line is a bitter, limited finding inside that failure, not a doctrine of female nature, not a rule for marriage, and not permission to treat women as traps. The closing claim is that humans seek out schemes; it does not make women the scheme.
How this should shape us
Admit what you cannot find out. Do not universalize a bitter sentence about 'the woman' into contempt, control, or theology. Apply the warning about snares to exploitation from any side.
Teach it back
Explain Ecclesiastes 7:23-29 in your own words. Include its movement, one material uncertainty, and one harmful or reductive use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Strong alternatives read verse 26 as a particular seductress, Dame Folly, a quoted misogynistic proverb the context critiques, or Qoheleth's own generalization later corrected or broadened in verse 29. The evidence does not yield certainty.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Ecclesiastes 7:23-29, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, repeated-word, and translation questions.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Eccl.xml, 7:23-29
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, lexical, literary, and translation alternatives.
NET Bible Ecclesiastes PDF, printed pp. 1210-1211, translation and notes on 7:23-29
Supports: Whole-book orientation, language and date questions, Qoheleth's voice, unit movement, irony, contradiction, enjoyment, death, judgment, and epilogue.
Weeks, 'Ecclesiastes,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 422-428, commentary relevant to 7:23-29
Supports: Abstract-level quotation-reading alternative for 7:25-29, held beside particular-woman, personified-folly, and misogynistic-generalization readings.
Cha, 'Was Qoheleth an Anti-Feminist?', Korean Journal of Old Testament Studies 20.2 (2014), English abstract and bibliographic record, article pp. 127-155
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Ecclesiastes 7:23-29, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ecclesiastes
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, repeated-word, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Eccl.xml, 7:23-29
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Ecclesiastes with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, lexical, literary, and translation alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Ecclesiastes PDF, printed pp. 1210-1211, translation and notes on 7:23-29
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Ecclesiastes
Stuart Weeks
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book orientation, language and date questions, Qoheleth's voice, unit movement, irony, contradiction, enjoyment, death, judgment, and epilogue.
Exact location: Weeks, 'Ecclesiastes,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 422-428, commentary relevant to 7:23-29
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article bibliographic record and english abstract
Was Qoheleth an Anti-Feminist? Ecclesiastes 7:25-29
Jun-Hee Cha
Korean Journal of Old Testament Studies 20.2, 2014
Supports: Abstract-level quotation-reading alternative for 7:25-29, held beside particular-woman, personified-folly, and misogynistic-generalization readings.
Exact location: Cha, 'Was Qoheleth an Anti-Feminist?', Korean Journal of Old Testament Studies 20.2 (2014), English abstract and bibliographic record, article pp. 127-155
Open source ↗