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King James Bible - Ecclesiastes 7:29

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

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World English Bible

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

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Douay-Rheims - Ecclesiastes 7:29

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?

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Webster's Bible Translation

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

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Original Hebrew

לבד 905 ראה 7200 זה 2088 מצאתי 4672 אשׁר 834 עשׂה 6213 האלהים 430 את 853 האדם 120 ישׁר 3477 והמה 1992 בקשׁו 1245 חשׁבנות 2810 רבים׃ 7227

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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge

VERSE (29) - Ge 1:26,27; 5:1

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SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:29

He aquí, solamente he hallado esto: que Dios hizo al hombre recto, mas ellos buscaron muchas perversiones.

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Clarke's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 7:29

Verse 29. Lo, 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: µybr twnbŤj wŤqb hmhw rŤy µdah ta µyhlah hŤ[ 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 questions." - VULGATE.

"Many reasonings." - SEPTUAGINT, SYRIAC, and ARABIC.

"They seek dyverse sotylties. "COVERDALE.

"And he himself mengide with questions without eend." - Old MS. Bible.

The Targum considers the text as speaking of Adam and Eve.

"This have I found out, that the Lord made the first man upright before him, and innocent: but the serpent and Eve seduced him to eat of the fruit of the tree, which gave the power to those who ate of it to discern between good and evil; and was the cause that death came upon him, and all the inhabitants of the earth; and they sought that they might find out many stratagems to bring this evil upon all the inhabitants of the world." I doubt much whether the word twnbŤj chishbonoth should be taken in a bad sense. It may signify the whole of human devices, imaginations, inventions, artifice, with all their products; arts, sciences, schemes, plans, and all that they have found out for the destruction or melioration of life.

God has given man wondrous faculties; and of them he has made strange uses, and sovereign abuses: and they have been, in consequence, at one time his help, and at another his bane. This is the fair way of understanding this question.

John Gill's Bible Commentary

Likewise, this uprightness is no other than the rectitude of human nature, of all the powers and faculties of the soul of man, as they were when he was created; his understanding clear of all errors and mistakes, either about divine or human things; his affections regular and ordinate, no unruly passion in him, no sinful affection, lust, and desire; he loved God with all his heart and soul, and delighted in him, and communion with him; the bias of his will was to that which is good; the law of God was written on his heart, and he had both power and will to keep it; and, during his state of integrity, was pure and sinless; yet he was not impeccable, as the confirmed angels and glorified saints are; nor immutable, as God only is; but being a creature, and changeable, he was liable to temptation, and subject to fall, as he did. Now Solomon, with all his diligent search and scrutiny, could not find out the infinity of sin, the boundless extent of it among mankind, the exceeding sinfulness of it, which he sought after, ( Ecclesiastes 7:25); yet this he “found” out, and this “only”, the fountain of all sin, the origin of moral evil; namely, the corruption of human nature through the fall of Adam: this he found by reading the Scriptures, the three first chapters of Genesis; and by consulting human nature he found some remains of the image of God, and of the law that was in man’s heart; whereby he perceived that man was once another man than he is now; and that this corruption is not owing to God, who is not the author of any thing sinful, he made man upright; but to himself, his own sin and folly: and this he found confirmed by sad experience; in himself and others, and by observing the history of all ages, from the times of the first man; and as this was notorious, it was worth knowing and observing, and therefore he calls upon others to take notice of it; lo, behold, consider it, as well as what follows; but they have sought out many inventions ; that is, Adam and Eve, not content with their present knowledge and happiness, they sought out new ways and means of being wiser and happier than God made them, or it was his will they should be. “They sought out the inventions of the many”, or “great things”, or “of the mighty and great ones” f186 , as it may be rendered, the eternal Three in One; they sought to be as wise as God himself; or, however, as the great and mighty ones, the angels, who excelled them, as in strength, so in knowledge; (see Genesis 3:5); or they sought out thoughts of sin, as Jarchi says it is interpreted in the Midrash. Sins are the inventions of men, and these are many and numerous; they sought to gratify their senses, on which followed innumerable evils; and then they sought for shifts and evasions to excuse themselves; the man shifting it from himself, and throwing the blame upon the woman, and the woman upon the serpent: and so sinning, they lost the knowledge they had; their righteousness and holiness, the rectitude of their nature; the moral freedom of their will to that which is good, and their power to perform it; and they lost the presence of God, and communion with him: and so their posterity are not only inventors of evil things, of sins, but of new ways of happiness; some placing it in riches; others in honours; others in pleasures; and some in natural wisdom and knowledge; and some in their own works of righteousness; the vanity of all which Solomon has before exposed.

Matthew Henry Commentary

Eccl. 7:1-6 Reputation for piety and honesty is more desirable than all the wealth and pleasure in this world. It will do more good to go to funeral than to a feast. We may lawfully go to both, as there is occasion; our Saviour both feasted at the wedding of his friend i Cana, and wept at the grave of his friend in Bethany. But, considerin how apt we are to be vain and indulge the flesh, it is best to go to the house of mourning, to learn the end of man as to this world Seriousness is better than mirth and jollity. That is best for us whic is best for our souls, though it be unpleasing to sense. It is bette to have our corruptions mortified by the rebuke of the wise, than to have them gratified by the song of fools. The laughter of a fool i soon gone, the end of his mirth is heaviness.

Eccl. 7:7-10 The event of our trials and difficulties is often bette than at first we thought. Surely it is better to be patient in spirit than to be proud and hasty. Be not soon angry, nor quick in resentin an affront. Be not long angry; though anger may come into the bosom of a wise man, it passes through it as a way-faring man; it dwells only in the bosom of fools. It is folly to cry out upon the badness of ou times, when we have more reason to cry out for the badness of our ow hearts; and even in these times we enjoy many mercies. It is folly to cry up the goodness of former times; as if former ages had not the lik things to complain of that we have: this arises from discontent, an aptness to quarrel with God himself.

Eccl. 7:11-22 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, yea better. I shelters from the storms and scorching heat of trouble. Wealth will no lengthen out the natural life; but true wisdom will give spiritual life, and strengthen men for services under their sufferings. Let u look upon the disposal of our condition as the work of God, and at las all will appear to have been for the best. In acts of righteousness, be not carried into heats or passions, no, not by a zeal for God. Be no conceited of thine own abilities; nor find fault with every thing, no busy thyself in other men's matters. Many who will not be wrought upo by the fear of God, and the dread of hell, will avoid sins which rui their health and estate, and expose to public justice. But those tha truly fear God, have but one end to serve, therefore act steadily. I we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves. Every true believer i ready to say, God be merciful to me a sinner. Forget not at the sam time, that personal righteousness, walking in newness of life, is the only real evidence of an interest by faith in the righteousness of the Redeemer. Wisdom teaches us not to be quick in resenting affronts. Be not desirous to know what people say; if they speak well of thee, it will feed thy pride, if ill, it will stir up thy passion. See that tho approve thyself to God and thine own conscience, and then heed not what men say of thee; it is easier to pass by twenty affronts than to aveng one. When any harm is done to us, examine whether we have not done a bad to others.

Eccl. 7:23-29 Solomon, in his search into the nature and reason of things, had been miserably deluded. But he here speaks with godl sorrow. He alone who constantly aims to please God, can expect to escape; the careless sinner probably will fall to rise no more. He no discovered more than ever the evil of the great sin of which he ha been guilty, the loving many strange women, I Kin. 11:1. A woma thoroughly upright and godly, he had not found. How was he likely to find such a one among those he had collected? If any of them had bee well disposed, their situation would tend to render them all nearly of the same character. He here warns others against the sins into which he had been betrayed. Many a godly man can with thankfulness acknowledg that he has found a prudent, virtuous woman in the wife of his bosom but those men who have gone in Solomon's track, cannot expect to fin one. He traces up all the streams of actual transgression to the fountain. It is clear that man is corrupted and revolted, and not as he was made. It is lamentable that man, whom God made upright, has foun out so many ways to render himself wicked and miserable. Let us bles Him for Jesus Christ, and seek his grace, that we may be numbered with his chosen people __________________________________________________________________

Original Hebrew