Ecclesiastes 7:27

27 And I find her , and I will pronounce more bitter than death the woman which is a snare, and her heart nets, a band in her hands: good in the sight of God shall be delivered from her; but the sinner shall be caught by her.

Ecclesiastes 7:27 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 7:27

Behold, this have I found
That a harlot is more bitter than death; and which he found by his own experience, and therefore would have it observed by others for their caution: or one man among a thousand, ( Ecclesiastes 7:28 ) ; (saith the preacher);
of which title and character see ( Ecclesiastes 1:1 ) ; it is here mentioned to confirm the truth of what he said; he said it as a preacher, and, upon the word of a preacher, it was true; as also to signify his repentance for his sin, who was now the "gathered soul", as some render it; gathered into the church of God by repentance; [counting] one by one, to find out the account;
not his own sins, which he endeavoured to reckon up, and find out the general account of them, which yet he could not do; nor the good works of the righteous, and the sins of the wicked, which are numbered before the Lord one by one, till they are added to the great account; as Jarchi, from the Rabbins, interprets it, and so the Midrash: but rather the sense is, examining women, one by one, all within the verge of his acquaintance; particularly the thousand women that were either his wives or concubines; in order to take and give a just estimate of their character and actions. What follows is the result.

Ecclesiastes 7:27 In-Context

25 far beyond what was, and a great depth, who shall find it out?

26 I and my heart went round about to know, and to examine, and to seek wisdom, and the account , and to know the folly and trouble and madness of the ungodly man.

27 And I find her , and I will pronounce more bitter than death the woman which is a snare, and her heart nets, a band in her hands: good in the sight of God shall be delivered from her; but the sinner shall be caught by her.

28 Behold, this have I found, said the Preacher, by one at a time to find out the account,

29 which my soul sought after, but I found not: for I have found one man of a thousand; but a woman in all these I have not found.