I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
Parallel Translations
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I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
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I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:
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I turned about, and applied my heart to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason of things, and to know wickedness to be folly, and foolishness to be madness;
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 7:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ecclesiastes 10:13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.
- Joshua 7:13 Get up! Sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, “There is a devoted thing among you, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you.”
- Genesis 34:7 The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing ought not to be done.
- 2 Samuel 13:12 She answered him, “No, my brother, do not force me! For no such thing ought to be done in Israel. Don’t you do this folly.
- Proverbs 17:12 Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
- Proverbs 26:11 As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.
- Ecclesiastes 1:13-17 I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted. I said to myself, “Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.
- Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure;” and behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.
- Ecclesiastes 2:12 I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.
- Ecclesiastes 2:15 Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
- Ecclesiastes 2:20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
- Ecclesiastes 7:27 “Behold, I have found this,” says the Preacher, “to one another, to find out the scheme
- Ecclesiastes 9:1-3 For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them. All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
- Jeremiah 12:1-2 You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously? You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
- 2 Peter 2:3-9 In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber. For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment; and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live in an ungodly way; and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds): the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
- 2 Peter 3:3-9 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” For this they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God, by which means the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 7:25 I applied mine heart to know, and…
Ecc 7:25 I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason [of things], and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness [and] madness:
Ver. 25. I applied mine heart.] Circuivi ego et cot meum, so the original runs; I and my heart turned about, or made a circle to know, &c. He took his heart with him, and resolved, hard or not hard, to make further search into wisdom’s secrets. Difficulty doth but whet on heroic spirits: it doth no whit weaken but waken their resolutions to go through with the work. When Alexander met with any hard or hazardous piece of service, he would say, Iam periculum par anime Alexandri, He ever achieved what he enterprised, because he never accounted anything impossible to be achieved. David was well pleased with the condition of bringing in to Saul the foreskins of a hundred Philistines. If a bowl run downhill, a rub in the way does but quicken it; as if up hill, it slows it. A man of Solomon’s make, one that hath a free, noble, princely spirit, speaks to wisdom, as Laelius in Lucan did to Caesar,
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“ Iussa sequi tam velle mihi, quam posse, necesse. ”
And to know the wickedness of folly.] The "sinfulness of sin." {Rom 7:13} Sin is so evil that it cannot have a worse epithet given it. "Mammon of unrighteousness," {Luk 16:11} is the next odious name to the devil.
Even the foolishness of madness.] That by one contrary he might the better know the other. Folly may serve as a foil to set off wisdom; as gardeners suffer some stinking stuff to grow near their sweetest flowers.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I applied mine heart; I was not discouraged, but…
I applied mine heart; I was not discouraged, but provoked by the difficulty of the work to undertake it; which is an argument of a great and generous soul.
To know, and to search, and to seek out; he useth three words signifying the same thing, to intimate his vehement desire and vigorous and unwearied endeavour after it.
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The reason of things, both of God’s various providences, and of the differing and contrary counsels and courses of men.
To know the wickedness of folly, that I might clearly and fully understand the great evil of sin, and all that wickedness and folly or madness which is bound up in the hearts of all men by nature, and which discovers itself in the course of their lives.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I applied mine heart to know, and to search,…
I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom,.... Or, "I and my heart turned about" (h); took a circuit, a tour throughout the whole compass of things; looked into every corner, and went through the circle of knowledge, in order to search and find out what true wisdom is; which is no other than Christ, and a spiritual knowledge of him; a variety of words is used to express his eager desire after wisdom, and the diligent search he made, from which he was not discouraged by the difficulties he met with; see Ecc 1:13;
and the reason of things; either in nature or providence: or the estimation (i) of them; the excellency of them, how much they are to be accounted of, esteemed, and valued; as Christ, the Wisdom of God, and all things relating to him, should;
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and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness; the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the folly and madness that are in it; sin is the effect of folly, and the excess of it, and a spiritual madness; it is true of all sin in general, but especially of the sin of uncleanness, which Solomon seems to have in view by what follows; see Ecc 1:17; and may chiefly intend the wickedness of his own folly, and the foolishness of his own madness.
(h) "circuivi ego et cor meum", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Gejerus. (i) "estimationem rerum", Mercerus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And seek - He useth three words signifying the…
And seek - He useth three words signifying the same thing, to intimate his vehement desire, and vigourous, and unwearied endeavours after it. The reason - Both of God's various providences, and of the counsels and courses of men. The wickedness - Clearly and fully to understand the great evil of sin.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 25. I applied mine heart] I cast about,…
Verse 25. I applied mine heart] I cast about, סבותי sabbothi, I made a circuit; I circumscribed the ground I was to traverse; and all within my circle I was determined to know, and to investigate, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things. Has man reason and understanding? If so, then this is his work. God as much calls him to use these powers in this way, as to believe on the Lord Jesus that he may be saved; and he that does not, according to the means in his power, is a slothful servant, from whom God may justly take away the misemployed or not used talent, and punish him for his neglect. Every doctrine of God is a subject both for reason and faith to work on.
To know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness.]
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"And my own heart, with scrutiny severe,
By far the harder task survey'd; intent
To trace that wisdom which from heaven descends,
Fountain of living waters, and to explore
The source of human folly, whose foul streams
Intoxicate and kill."-C.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Ecc 7:25. I applied my heart to know —…
Ecc 7:25. I applied my heart to know — I was not discouraged, but provoked, by the difficulty of the work, to undertake it. To know, search, and seek out wisdom — He useth three words signifying the same thing, to intimate his vehement desire, and vigorous and unwearied endeavours after it. And the reason of things — Both of God’s various providences, and of the counsels and courses of men. To know the wickedness, &c — Clearly and fully to understand the great evil of sin.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Reason - The same word is translated “account” Ecc…
Reason - The same word is translated “account” Ecc 7:27, “invention” Ecc 7:29, and “device” Ecc 9:10 : it is derived from a root signifying “to count.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Much. Protestants, "the which is far off, and exceeding…
Much. Protestants, "the which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?" (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Literally, "I turned myself and mine heart to." A…
Literally, "I turned myself and mine heart to." A phrase peculiar to Ecclesiastes, and appropriate to the penitent turning back to commune with his heart on his past life.
wickedness of folly--He is now a step further on the path of penitence than in Ecc 1:17; Ecc 2:12, where "folly" is put without "wickedness" prefixed.
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reason--rather, "the right estimation" of things. HOLDEN translates also "foolishness (that is, sinful folly, answering to 'wickedness' in the parallel) of madness" (that is, of man's mad pursuits).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 25. I applied mine heart to know — is…
25. I applied mine heart to know — is my heart turned to know? The writer resumes his practical inquiry in a new direction. He searches to know the actual cause of the intense and appaling wickedness of men. And the reason, etc. — Hebrew, to know the reason of wickedness and vice and folly, which is madness. So awful a fact must have some adequate cause, if it can only be found.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 25. I applied mine heart to know] The present…
25. I applied mine heart to know] The present text and punctuation give, as in the marginal reading of the A. V., I and my heart. The expression has no exact parallel in O. T. language, but harmonizes with the common mode of speech, familiar enough in the poetry of all times and countries, furnishing a title (“My Soul and I”) to a poem of Whittier’s, in which a man addresses his heart or soul (comp. Luk_12:19), as something distinguishable from himself. So in ch. Ecc_1:13 we have “I gave my heart.” Here the thought implied seems to be that of an intense retrospective consciousness of the experience, or experiment, of life which the seeker is about to narrate. The words indicate another return to the results of that experience and the lessons it had taught him. He turned to ask the “reason,” better perhaps, the plan or rationale, of the prevalence of madness and folly. We note, as before in ch. Ecc_2:12, the Stoic manner of dealing with the follies of men as a kind of mental aberration.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (25) The reason of things.—The corresponding verb “to count”…
(25) The reason of things.—The corresponding verb “to count” is common. This noun is almost peculiar to this book, where it occurs again in Ecc_7:27; Ecc_7:29; Ecc_9:10; save that in 2Ch_26:15 we have the plural in the sense of military engines.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I applied mine heart to know; more literally, I…
I applied mine heart to know; more literally, I turned myself, and my heart was set to know. We have the expression, "tamed myself," referring to a new investigation in Ecc_2:20 and elsewhere; but the distinguishing the heart or soul from the man himself is not common in Scripture (see on ch. 11:9), though the soul is sometimes apostrophized, as (Luk_12:19 comp. Psa_103:1 Psa_146:1) The writer here implies that he gave up himself with all earnestness to the investigation. Unsatisfactory as his quest had been hitherto. He did not relinquish the pursuit, but rather turned it in another direction, where he could hope to meet with useful results. The Septuagint has, "I and my heart traveled round (ejkuklwsa) to know;" the Vulgate, Lustravi universa animo meo ut scirem. And to search, and to seek out wisdom. The accumulation of synonymous verbs is meant to emphasize the author"s devotion to his self-imposed task and his return from profitless theoretical investigation to practical inquiry. And the reason of things. Cheshbon (ver. 27; Ecc_9:10) is rather "account," "reckoning," than "reason the summing-up of all the facts and circumstances rather than the elucidation of their causes. Vulgate, rationem; Septuagint, yhfon. The next clause ought to be rendered, And to know wickedness as (or, to be) folly, and foolishness as (to be) madness. His investigation led him to this conclusion, that all infringement of God"s laws is a misjudging aberration a willful desertion of the requirements of right reason and thatmental and moral obtuseness is a physical malady which may be called madness. (comp. Ecc_1:17 Ecc_2:12 Ecc_10:13)
Vers. 25-28.
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Bad women a curse to society.
It is generally considered that in this language we have the conclusion reached by Solomon, End that his polygamy was largely the explanation of the very unfavorable opinion which he formed of the other sex. A monarch who takes to himself hundreds of wives and concubines is scarcely likely to see much of the best side of woman"s nature and life. And if marriage is divinely intended to draw out the unselfish, affectionate, and devoted qualities of feminine nature, such a purpose could not be more effectually frustrated than by an arrangement which assigns to a so-called wife an infinitesimal portion of a husband"s time, attention, interest, and love. For this reason it is not fair to take the sweeping statement of this passage as expressing a universal End unquestionable truth. What is said of the bitterness of the wicked woman, and of the mischief she does in society, remains for ever true; but there are states of society in which good women are as numerous as are good men, and in which their influence is equally beneficial.
I THE INJURIOUSNESS OF BAD WOMEN EXEMPLIFIES THE PRINCIPLE THAT THE ABUSE AND CORRUPTION OF GOOD THINGS IS OFTEN THE CAUSE OF THE WORST OF ILLS.
II THE WICKEDNESS OF BAD WOMEN DISPLAYS ITSELF IN THEIR HABIT OF ENSNARING THE FOOLISH; FOR THEY WILL NOT AND CANNOT SIN ALONE.
III THE PRESENCE OF BAD WOMEN IN SOCIETY IS THE GREAT TEMPTATION TO WHICH MEN ARE LIABLE, AND THE GREAT TEST BY WHICH THEY ARE TRIED.
IV THE BITTERNESS OF BAD WOMEN MAY BY CONTRAST SUGGEST THE EXCELLENCE OF THE VIRTUOUS AND THE PIOUS, AND MAY PROMPT TO A GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF SOCIETY TO HOLY AND KINDLY FEMININE INFLUENCES. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.