Amplified Bible
Ecclesiastes 7:23
23I have tested all this with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise [independently of God],” but true wisdom was far from me.
Ecclesiastes 7:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.
- New International Version (NIV)All this I tested by wisdom and I said, “I am determined to be wise”— but this was beyond me.
- English Standard Version (ESV)All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me.
- New King James Version (NKJV)All this I have proved by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise”; But it was far from me.
Context of Ecclesiastes 7:23
21Also, do not take seriously everything that is said, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you, 22for you also know that you too have cursed others many times. I have tested all this with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise [independently of God],” but true wisdom was far from me. 24Whatever has been is far off, deeply remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it [for it is beyond the grasp of man]? 25I turned around and directed my heart to know, to investigate and to seek [skillful and godly] wisdom and the reason for things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness [leading to stupidity and recklessness].
Read all of Ecclesiastes 7Ecclesiastes 7:23 word by word
כָּל־זֹ֖ה נִסִּ֣יתִי בַֽחָכְמָ֑ה אָמַ֣רְתִּי אֶחְכָּ֔מָה וְהִ֖יא רְחוֹקָ֥ה מִמֶּֽנִּי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 7:23
- Genesis 3:5For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened [that is, you will have greater awareness], and you will be like God, knowing [the difference between] good and evil.”
- 1 Kings 3:11God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself a long life nor for wealth, nor for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to recognize justice,
- 1 Kings 11:1Now king Solomon [defiantly] loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
- Romans 1:22Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
- 1 Corinthians 1:20Where is the wise man (philosopher)? Where is the scribe (scholar)? Where is the debater (logician, orator) of this age? Has God not exposed the foolishness of this world’s wisdom?
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23All this have I proved by wisdom - These rules I have laid down for my own conduct, and sought after more wisdom; but have fallen far short of what I wished to be.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23I will be - Or, I am. There was a time when Solomon thought himself wise enough to comprehend the work of God, and therefore needed for himself the self-humbling conviction declared in this verse. It - i. e. Wisdom. Compare Ecclesiastes 8:17.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 23-29Verses 23-29 Solomon, in his search into the nature and reason of things, had been miserably deluded. But he here speaks with godly sorrow. He alone who constantly aims to please God, can expect to escape; the careless sinner probably will fall to rise no more. He now discovered more than ever the evil of the great sin of which he had been guilty, the loving many strange women, I Kin. 11:1. A woman thoroughly upright and godly, he had not found. How was…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23-25it was beyond me: The Teacher could not find the wisdom or reasons he sought. Such reasons are hidden in God's mind (Ecclesiastes 3:11; 8:17).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. All this--resuming the "all" in Ec 7:15; Ec 7:15-22 is therefore the fruit of his dearly bought experience in the days of his "vanity." I will be wise--I tried to "be wise," independently of God. But true wisdom was then "far from him," in spite of his human wisdom, which he retained by God's gift. So "over wise" (Ec 7:16).Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 7:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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