Common English Bible w/ Apocrypha CEBA
New International Version NIV
24 All that happens is elusive and utterly unfathomable. Who can grasp it?
24
Whatever exists is far off and most profound— who can discover it?
25 I turned my mind to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom, along with an account of things, to know that wickedness is foolishness and folly is madness.
25
So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.
26 I found one woman more bitter than death: she who is a trap, her heart a snare, her hands shackles. Anyone who pleases God escapes her, but a sinner is trapped by her.
26
I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.
27 See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, examining one matter after another to account for things.
27
“Look,” says the Teacher, “this is what I have discovered: “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
28 But there's something that I constantly searched for but couldn't find: I found one man among a thousand, but I couldn't find a woman among any of these.
28
while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.
29 See, this alone I found: God made human beings straightforward, but they search for many complications.
29
This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.