Ecclesiastes 7:27 (WEB)

Passage

“Behold, I have found this,” says the Preacher, “to one another, to find out the scheme;

Nearby Context

Ecclesiastes 7:25 I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.

Ecclesiastes 7:26 I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.

Ecclesiastes 7:27 “Behold, I have found this,” says the Preacher, “to one another, to find out the scheme;

Ecclesiastes 7:28 which my soul still seeks; but I have not found. I have found one man among a thousand; but I have not found a woman among all those.

Ecclesiastes 7:29 Behold, I have only found this: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "found", "says", "preacher", "another", "find", and "scheme". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "behold" and "found", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 26's "I find more bitter than death the..." into verse 28's "which my soul still seeks but I...", so "behold" and "found" 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 "behold" and "found" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.