Ecclesiastes 7:26 (KJV)

Passage

And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Nearby Context

Ecclesiastes 7:24 That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?

Ecclesiastes 7:25 I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

Ecclesiastes 7:26 And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Ecclesiastes 7:27 Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account:

Ecclesiastes 7:28 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.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "find", "bitter", "than", "death", "woman", "whose", "heart", and "snares". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "find" and "bitter", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 25's "I applied mine heart to know and..." into verse 27's "Behold this have I found saith the...", so "find" and "bitter" belong inside that flow. In Ecclesiastes context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "find" and "bitter" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.