Ecclesiastes 7:23

Bible in Basic English (1941)

All this I have put to the test by wisdom; I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Rom 1:22 : 22 Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish,
  • 1 Cor 1:20 : 20 Where is the wise? where is he who has knowledge of the law? where is the man of this world who has a love of discussion? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
  • Gen 3:5 : 5 For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as gods, having knowledge of good and evil.
  • 1 Kgs 3:11-12 : 11 And God said to him, Because your request is for this thing, and not for long life for yourself or for wealth or for the destruction of your haters, but for wisdom to be a judge of causes; 12 I have done as you said: I have given you a wise and far-seeing heart, so that there has never been your equal in the past, and never will there be any like you in the future.
  • 1 Kgs 11:1-8 : 1 Now a number of strange women were loved by Solomon, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: 2 The nations of which the Lord had said to the children of Israel, You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you; or they will certainly make you go after their gods: to these Solomon was united in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives; and through his wives his heart was turned away. 4 For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites. 6 And Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not walking in the Lord's ways with all his heart as David his father did. 7 Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon. 8 And so he did for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Eccl 7:24-25
    2 verses
    85%

    24 Far off is true existence, and very deep; who may have knowledge of it?

    25 I gave my mind to knowledge and to searching for wisdom and the reason of things, and to the discovery that sin is foolish, and that to be foolish is to be without one's senses.

  • Eccl 1:13-18
    6 verses
    77%

    13 And I gave my heart to searching out in wisdom all things which are done under heaven: it is a hard thing which God has put on the sons of men to do.

    14 I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; all is to no purpose, and desire for wind.

    15 That which is bent may not be made straight, and that which is not there may not be numbered.

    16 I said to my heart, See, I have become great and am increased in wisdom more than any who were before me in Jerusalem--yes, my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.

    17 And I gave my heart to getting knowledge of wisdom, and of the ways of the foolish. And I saw that this again was desire for wind.

    18 Because in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.

  • Ps 73:16
    75%

    16 When my thoughts were turned to see the reason of this, it was a weariness in my eyes;

  • Eccl 2:11-15
    5 verses
    75%

    11 Then I saw all the works which my hands had made, and everything I had been working to do; and I saw that all was to no purpose and desire for wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

    12 And I went again in search of wisdom and of foolish ways. What may the man do who comes after the king? The thing which he has done before.

    13 Then I saw that wisdom is better than foolish ways--as the light is better than the dark.

    14 The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the foolish man goes walking in the dark; but still I saw that the same event comes to them all.

    15 Then said I in my heart: As it comes to the foolish man, so will it come to me; so why have I been wise overmuch? Then I said in my heart: This again is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 9:13
    74%

    13 This again I have seen under the sun as wisdom and it seemed great to me.

  • Job 42:3
    73%

    3 Who is this who makes dark the purpose of God by words without knowledge? For I have been talking without knowledge about wonders not to be searched out.

  • Eccl 8:17
    73%

    17 Then I saw all the work of God, and that man may not get knowledge of the work which is done under the sun; because, if a man gives hard work to the search he will not get knowledge, and even if the wise man seems to be coming to the end of his search, still he will be without knowledge.

  • Eccl 7:22
    72%

    22 Your heart has knowledge how frequently others have been cursed by you.

  • Prov 8:12
    72%

    12 I, wisdom, have made wise behaviour my near relation; I am seen to be the special friend of wise purposes.

  • Eccl 2:9
    72%

    9 And I became great; increasing more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem, and my wisdom was still with me.

  • Eccl 7:27
    72%

    27 Look! this I have seen, said the Preacher, taking one thing after another to get the true account,

  • Eccl 2:1-3
    3 verses
    71%

    1 I said in my heart, I will give you joy for a test; so take your pleasure--but it was to no purpose.

    2 Of laughing I said, It is foolish; and of joy--What use is it?

    3 I made a search with my heart to give pleasure to my flesh with wine, still guiding my heart with wisdom, and to go after foolish things, so that I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under the heavens all the days of their life.

  • Prov 30:3
    71%

    3 I have not got wisdom by teaching, so that I might have the knowledge of the Holy One.

  • Job 12:3
    71%

    3 But I have a mind as well as you; I am equal to you: yes, who has not knowledge of such things as these?

  • Job 6:13
    71%

    13 I have no help in myself, and wisdom is completely gone from me.

  • Job 28:12
    71%

    12 But where may wisdom be seen? and where is the resting-place of knowledge?

  • Job 17:10-11
    2 verses
    71%

    10 But come back, now, all of you, come; and I will not see a wise man among you.

    11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the desires of my heart.

  • Eccl 2:19-20
    2 verses
    71%

    19 And who is to say if that man will be wise or foolish? But he will have power over all my work which I have done and in which I have been wise under the sun. This again is to no purpose.

    20 So my mind was turned to grief for all the trouble I had taken and all my wisdom under the sun.

  • Eccl 7:15-16
    2 verses
    71%

    15 These two have I seen in my life which is to no purpose: a good man coming to his end in his righteousness, and an evil man whose days are long in his evil-doing.

    16 Be not given overmuch to righteousness and be not over-wise. Why let destruction come on you?

  • Ps 139:6
    71%

    6 Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it.

  • Prov 7:7
    70%

    7 I saw among the young men one without sense,

  • Job 28:20
    70%

    20 From where then does wisdom come, and where is the resting-place of knowledge?

  • Prov 17:24
    70%

    24 Wisdom is before the face of him who has sense; but the eyes of the foolish are on the ends of the earth.

  • Job 36:3
    70%

    3 I will get my knowledge from far, and I will give righteousness to my Maker.

  • Job 23:8
    70%

    8 See, I go forward, but he is not there; and back, but I do not see him;

  • Prov 18:1
    70%

    1 He who keeps himself separate for his private purpose goes against all good sense.

  • Prov 8:14
    69%

    14 Wise design and good sense are mine; reason and strength are mine.

  • Eccl 9:1
    69%

    1 All this I took to heart, and my heart saw it all: that the upright and the wise and their works are in the hand of God; and men may not be certain if it will be love or hate; all is to no purpose before them.

  • Eccl 2:17
    69%

    17 So I was hating life, because everything under the sun was evil to me: all is to no purpose and desire for wind.

  • Eccl 7:29
    69%

    29 This only have I seen, that God made men upright, but they have been searching out all sorts of inventions.

  • Ps 73:3
    69%

    3 Because of my envy of the men of pride, when I saw the well-being of the wrongdoers.

  • Eccl 10:3
    69%

    3 And when the foolish man is walking in the way, he has no sense and lets everyone see that he is foolish.

  • Eccl 9:16
    69%

    16 Then I said, Wisdom is better than strength, but the poor man's wisdom is not respected, and his words are not given a hearing.

  • Job 13:1
    69%

    1 Truly, my eye has seen all this, word of it has come to my ear, and I have knowledge of it.

  • Jer 23:23
    69%

    23 Am I only a God who is near, says the Lord, and not a God at a distance?