Ecclesiastes 7:29

Ecclesiastes 7:29 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
• New International Version (NIV)This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
• English Standard Version (ESV)See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes.”

Context of Ecclesiastes 7:29

27This is what I, the Teacher, have learned. I studied everything very carefully. I wanted to know the reason why things happen. 28I continued to try to learn more and more. But I could not find the answers. Among one thousand people, I found one good man. But among them all, I did not find a good woman. I did learn this: God made people to do what is right. But people have chosen their own way to do things.

Ecclesiastes 7:29 word by word

לְבַד֙ רְאֵה־זֶ֣ה מָצָ֔אתִי אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֧ה הָאֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָאָדָ֖ם יָשָׁ֑ר וְהֵ֥מָּה בִקְשׁ֖וּ חִשְּׁבֹנ֥וֹת רַבִּֽים׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Loרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: behold!H7200
• this onlyבַּדbad · aloneH905
• have I foundמָצָאmâtsâ' · to findH4672
• that Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• hath madeעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to makeH6213
• manאָדָם'âdâm · manH120
• uprightיָשָׁרyâshâr · uprightH3477
• but they have sought outבָּקַשׁbâqash · to seekH1245
• manyרַבrab · manyH7227
• inventionsחִשָּׁבוֹןchishshâbôn · inventionH2810

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 7:29

• Genesis 1:26Then God said, ‘We will make humans so that they are very much like us. They will rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky. They will rule over the farm animals. They will rule over the whole earth and all the animals that move along the ground.’
• Genesis 5:1This is the report about Adam and his family. When God made men and women, he made them like himself.
• Genesis 3:6The woman looked at the fruit on the tree. She saw that it would be good to eat, and it was beautiful to look at. She wanted to eat it because it would make her become wise. So she took some fruit and she ate it. Then she gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her. He also ate it.
• Genesis 6:5The Lord saw that men and women on the earth had become very bad. They thought only of evil things all the time.
• Genesis 11:4They said, ‘Let us build a city to live in. We should also build a very tall tower. The tower will go up into the heavens. Then we will always be famous. If we do that, we will not have to separate and go to live in different places on the earth.’
• Psalms 99:8Yes, you answered them, Lord our God. You forgave the sins of your people. But when they did wrong things, you punished them.
• Psalms 106:29The Lord became angry because of what his people did. He sent a bad disease among them.
• Jeremiah 2:12The Lord says, ‘The whole universe should see how terrible this is. Yes, everything should shake with fear!
• Jeremiah 4:22The Lord says, ‘My people are fools. They do not know me. They are like children who do not know anything. They understand nothing. They are very clever at doing evil things. But they do not know how to do what is good.’
• Ezekiel 22:16All the other nations will see that you are useless. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” ’
• Mark 7:8Jesus then said, ‘You have stopped obeying God. Instead you obey the ideas that men teach.’
• Acts 7:40So the people said to Aaron, “Please make us some gods that we can carry in front of us. Yes, that man Moses brought us out of Egypt. But now we do not know what has happened to him.”
• Romans 1:21Those people really knew about God. But they did not respect him as a great God, and they did not thank him. They did not even think clearly any more. Their minds became confused and they did not understand God's message.
• Romans 3:9So then, what do we learn from that? We cannot say that we Jews are better than other people. No, certainly we cannot say that! I have said already that sin has power over everyone. That is true for both Jews and Gentiles.
• Ephesians 2:2You lived in a bad way, like the people who belong to this world. You were obeying Satan, who rules the powerful spirits in the air. Those spirits are working now in everyone who refuses to obey God.

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7:29

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 29Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright - Whatever evil may be now found among men and women, it is not of God; for God made them all upright. This is a singular verse, and has been most variously translated: רבים חשבנות בקשו והמה ישר האדם את האלהים עשה asah haelohim eth haadam yashar vehemhah bikkeshu chishbonoth rabbim . "Elohim has made mankind upright, and they have sought many computations." "He hath meddled with endless…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 29God hath made - Rather, God made. A definite allusion to the original state of man: in which he was exempt from vanity.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. 29After much searching, the Teacher found that humanity's decline from God's created order (Genesis 1:27–28; 2:23–25; 3:1–19) was repeated by Adam and Eve's descendants (compare Romans 3:10–18, 23).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2929. The "only" way of accounting for the scarcity of even comparatively upright men and women is that, whereas God made man upright, they (men) have, &c. The only account to be "found" of the origin of evil, the great mystery of theology, is that given in Holy Writ (Ge 2:1-3:24). Among man's "inventions" was the one especially referred to in Ec 7:26, the bitter fruits of which Solomon experienced, the breaking of God's primeval marriage law, joining one…Read the comment

Topics related to Ecclesiastes 7:29

• Depravity of Man
• Fall of Man
• God
• Man

In the dictionaries

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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