Ecclesiastes 7:25

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

I turned about, and my heart [was set] to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason [of things], and to know that wickedness is folly, and that foolishness is madness.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

סַבּוֹתִי אֲנִי וְלִבִּי לָדַעַת וְלָתוּר וּבַקֵּשׁ חָכְמָה וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן וְלָדַעַת רֶשַׁע כֶּסֶל וְהַסִּכְלוּת הוֹלֵלוֹת

Transliteration

Sabbôṯî I and-libbî lāḏaʿaṯ and-lāṯûr and-ḇaqqēš ḥoḵmāh and-ḥešbôn and-lāḏaʿaṯ rešaʿ kesel and-the-sikḵəlûṯ hôlēlôṯ

Grammar Details

• *Sabbôṯî*: Qal perfect 1st common singular - I turned
• *libbî*: noun, masculine singular with 1st common singular suffix - my heart
• *lāḏaʿaṯ*: Qal infinitive construct with preposition - to know
• *lāṯûr*: Qal infinitive construct with preposition - to explore
• *ḇaqqēš*: Piel infinitive construct - to seek
• *ḥoḵmāh*: noun, feminine singular - wisdom
• *ḥešbôn*: noun, masculine singular - account/reason
• *rešaʿ*: noun, masculine singular - wickedness
• *kesel*: noun, masculine singular - folly
• *sikḵəlûṯ*: noun, feminine singular with definite article - the foolishness
• *hôlēlôṯ*: noun, feminine plural - madness

Word Meanings

• *Sabbôṯî*: I turned/I applied myself/I explored
• *lāḏaʿaṯ*: to know/to understand/to comprehend
• *lāṯûr*: to explore/to search out/to investigate
• *ḇaqqēš*: to seek/to search for/to pursue
• *ḥoḵmāh*: wisdom/understanding/insight
• *ḥešbôn*: account/reason/calculation/conclusion
• *rešaʿ*: wickedness/evil/iniquity
• *kesel*: folly/stupidity
• *sikḵəlûṯ*: foolishness/folly
• *hôlēlôṯ*: madness/senselessness

Referenced Verses

• Eccl 10:13 : 13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.
• Jer 12:1-2 : 1 Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee; yet would I reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously? 2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
• 2 Pet 2:3-9 : 3 And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not. 4 For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed [his] righteous soul from day to day with [their] lawless deeds): 9 the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment;
• 2 Pet 3:3-9 : 3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, 4 and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God; 6 by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But {G0} forget {G5209} not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
• Gen 34:7 : 7 And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done.
• Josh 7:13 : 13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow: for thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, There is a devoted thing in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the devoted thing from among you.
• 2 Sam 13:12 : 12 And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly.
• Prov 17:12 : 12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, Rather than a fool in his folly.
• Prov 26:11 : 11 As a dog that returneth to his vomit, [So is] a fool that repeateth his folly.
• Eccl 1:13-17 : 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. 16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom above all that were before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also was a striving after wind.
• Eccl 2:1-3 : 1 I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it? 3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding [me] with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their life.
• Eccl 2:12 : 12 And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been done long ago.
• Eccl 2:15 : 15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then said I in my heart, that this also is vanity.
• Eccl 2:20 : 20 Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein I had labored under the sun.
• Eccl 3:16-17 : 16 And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
• Eccl 7:27 : 27 Behold, this have I found, saith the Preacher, laying one thing to another, to find out the account;
• Eccl 9:1-3 : 1 For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them. 2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead.