Ecclesiastes 7:29
<< Ecclesiastes 7:29 >>
New International Version (©1984)
This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes."

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices."

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
I have found only this: God made people decent, but they looked for many ways [to avoid being decent]."

King James Bible
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

American King James Version
See, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

American Standard Version
Behold, this only have I found: that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Bible in Basic English
This only have I seen, that God made men upright, but they have been searching out all sorts of inventions.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Only this I have found, that God made man right, and he hath entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Who is as the wise man? and who hath known the resolution of the word?

Darby Bible Translation
Only see this which I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices.

English Revised Version
Behold, this only have I found, that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Webster's Bible Translation
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

World English Bible
Behold, this only have I found: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes."

Young's Literal Translation
See, this alone I have found, that God made man upright, and they -- they have sought out many devices.

Geneva Study Bible

Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many {t} devices.

(t) And so are cause for their own destruction.

Wesley's Notes

7:29 Lo, this - Though I could not find out all the streams of wickedness, and their infinite windings and turnings, yet I have discovered the fountain of it, Original sin, and the corruption of nature, which is both in men and women. That - God made our first parents, Adam and Eve. Upright - Heb. right: without any imperfection or corruption, conformable to his nature and will, after his own likeness. They - Our first parents, and after them their posterity. Sought out - Were not contented with their present state, but studied new ways of making themselves more wise and happy, than God had made them. And we, their wretched children, are still prone to forsake the certain rule of God's word, and the true way to happiness, and to seek new methods of attaining it.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. 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 man to "one" woman (Mt 19:4, 5, 6). "Man" is singular, namely, Adam; "they," plural, Adam, Eve, and their posterity.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:23-29 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,


Genesis 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (NASB ©1995)

Alone Devices Found Inventions Mankind Schemes Search Searching Sorts Sought Upright


Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

god Ge 1:26,27 5:1

they Ge 3:6,7 6:5,6,11,12 11:4-6 Ps 99:8 106:29,39 Jer 2:12,13 4:22 Eze 22:16-13 Mr 7:8,9 Ac 7:40-43 Ro 1:21-32 3:9-19 Eph 2:2,3 Tit 3:3

Bible Gateway: Ecclesiastes Chapter 7 Verse 29 NIV ESV NKJV NLT KJV Message Amplified

Alphabetical: Behold but devices found God gone have I in made mankind many men of only out schemes search sought that they This upright

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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 7:29 Behold this only have I found: that (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.) Christian Bible Study Resources, Dictionary, Concordance and Search Tools

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