New International Version
Ecclesiastes 7:28
28while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.
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.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman!
Context of Ecclesiastes 7:28
26I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare. 27“Look,” says the Teacher, “this is what I have discovered: “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things— while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. 29This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of 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 7:23All this I tested by wisdom and I said, “I am determined to be wise”— but this was beyond me.
- Isaiah 26:9My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
- Job 33:23Yet if there is an angel at their side, a messenger, one out of a thousand, sent to tell them how to be upright,
- Psalms 12:1Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
- 1 Kings 11:1King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.
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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