29 Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
29 This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes."
29 See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
29 Yet I did spot one ray of light in this murk: God made men and women true and upright; we're the ones who've made a mess of things.
29 Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes."
29 But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7:29
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7:23-29
(Read Ecclesiastes 7:23-29)
Solomon, in his search into the nature and reason of things, had been miserably deluded. But he here speaks with godly sorrow. He alone who constantly aims to please God, can expect to escape; the careless sinner probably will fall to rise no more. He now discovered more than ever the evil of the great sin of which he had been guilty, the loving many strange women, 1 Kings 11:1. A woman thoroughly upright and godly, he had not found. How was he likely to find such a one among those he had collected? If any of them had been well disposed, their situation would tend to render them all nearly of the same character. He here warns others against the sins into which he had been betrayed. Many a godly man can with thankfulness acknowledge that he has found a prudent, virtuous woman in the wife of his bosom; but those men who have gone in Solomon's track, cannot expect to find one. He traces up all the streams of actual transgression to the fountain. It is clear that man is corrupted and revolted, and not as he was made. It is lamentable that man, whom God made upright, has found out so many ways to render himself wicked and miserable. Let us bless Him for Jesus Christ, and seek his grace, that we may be numbered with his chosen people.