Christian Standard Bible
Ecclesiastes 7:28
28which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman.
Ecclesiastes 7:28 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.
- New International Version (NIV)while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.
- English Standard Version (ESV)which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find: One man among a thousand I have found, But a woman among all these I have not found.
Context of Ecclesiastes 7:28
26And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. 27“Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman. 29Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.”
Read all of Ecclesiastes 7Ecclesiastes 7:28 word by word
אֲשֶׁ֛ר עוֹד־בִּקְשָׁ֥ה נַפְשִׁ֖י וְלֹ֣א מָצָ֑אתִי אָדָ֞ם אֶחָ֤ד מֵאֶ֙לֶף֙ מָצָ֔אתִי וְאִשָּׁ֥ה בְכָל־אֵ֖לֶּה לֹ֥א מָצָֽאתִי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 7:28
- Ecclesiastes 7:23I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me.
- Isaiah 26:9I long for you in the night; yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks you, for when your judgments are in the land, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
- Job 33:23If there is an angel on his side, one mediator out of a thousand, to tell a person what is right for him
- Psalms 12:1Help, Lord, for no faithful one remains; the loyal have disappeared from the human race.
- 1 Kings 11:1King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7:28
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 28One man - One whose good qualities quite satisfy our expectation. Compare the expression “one among a thousand” (marginal reference). A woman - The number of Solomon‘s wives and concubines 1 Kings 11:3 was a thousand.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. 28The New Living Translation adds the phrase "is virtuous" (based on Ecclesiastes 7:29) to clarify the verse. Virtue is very rare. The Teacher found only a few virtuous men and no virtuous women in his experience.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2828. Rather, referring to his past experience, "Which my soul sought further, but I found not." one man--that is, worthy of the name, "man," "upright"; not more than one in a thousand of my courtiers (Job 33:23; Psa 12:1). Jesus Christ alone of men fully realizes the perfect ideal of "man." "Chiefest among ten thousand" (So 5:10). No perfect "woman" has ever existed, not even the Virgin Mary. Solomon, in the word "thousand," alludes to his three hundred…Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 7:28
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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