Ecclesiastes 7:29

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

This alone have I discovered: God made humankind upright, but they have sought many evil schemes.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Gen 1:26-27 : 26 Then God said,“Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
  • Gen 3:6-7 : 6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
  • Jer 4:22 : 22 The LORD answered,“This will happen because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good.”
  • Ezek 22:6-9 : 6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. 7 They have treated father and mother with contempt within you; they have oppressed the resident foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow within you. 8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; they commit obscene acts among you. 10 They have sexual relations with their father’s wife within you; they violate women during their menstrual period within you. 11 One commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates his sister– his father’s daughter– within you. 12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD. 13 “‘See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed they have done among you.
  • Mark 7:8-9 : 8 Having no regard for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.” 9 He also said to them,“You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up your tradition.
  • Acts 7:40-43 : 40 saying to Aaron,‘Make us gods who will go in front of us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt– we do not know what has happened to him!’ 41 At that time they made an idol in the form of a calf, brought a sacrifice to the idol, and began rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, house of Israel? 43 But you took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, the images you made to worship, but I will deport you beyond Babylon.’
  • Rom 1:21-32 : 21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 29 They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.
  • Rom 3:9-9 : 9 The Condemnation of the World What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 10 just as it is written:“There is no one righteous, not even one, 11 there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” 13 “Their throats are open graves, they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 ruin and misery are in their paths, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
  • Eph 2:2-3 : 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the domain of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…
  • Titus 3:3 : 3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.
  • Gen 5:1 : 1 From Adam to Noah This is the record of the family line of Adam.When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God.
  • Gen 6:5-6 : 5 But the LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.
  • Gen 6:11-12 : 11 The earth was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence. 12 God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful.
  • Gen 11:4-6 : 4 Then they said,“Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.” 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building. 6 And the LORD said,“If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.
  • Ps 99:8 : 8 O LORD our God, you answered them. They found you to be a forgiving God, but also one who punished their sinful deeds.
  • Ps 106:29 : 29 They made the LORD angry by their actions, and a plague broke out among them.
  • Ps 106:39 : 39 They were defiled by their deeds, and unfaithful in their actions.
  • Jer 2:12-13 : 12 Be amazed at this, O heavens! Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded,” says the LORD. 13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

Similar Verses (AI)

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

  • Eccl 7:27-28
    2 verses
    81%

    27The Teacher says: I discovered this while trying to discover the scheme of things, item by item.

    28What I have continually sought, I have not found; I have found only one upright man among a thousand, but I have not found one upright woman among all of them.

  • Eccl 8:17
    73%

    17then I discerned all that God has done: No one really comprehends what happens on earth. Despite all human efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp it. Even if a wise person claimed that he understood, he would not really comprehend it.

  • Eccl 7:13-15
    3 verses
    72%

    13Wisdom Acknowledges God’s Orchestration of Life Consider the work of God: For who can make straight what he has bent?

    14In times of prosperity be joyful, but in times of adversity consider this: God has made one as well as the other, so that no one can discover what the future holds.

    15Exceptions to the Law of Retribution During the days of my fleeting life I have seen both of these things: Sometimes a righteous person dies prematurely in spite of his righteousness, and sometimes a wicked person lives long in spite of his evil deeds.

  • Eccl 1:13-15
    3 verses
    72%

    13I decided to carefully and thoroughly examine all that has been accomplished on earth. I concluded: God has given people a burdensome task that keeps them occupied.

    14I reflected on everything that is accomplished by man on earth, and I concluded: Everything he has accomplished is futile– like chasing the wind!

    15What is bent cannot be straightened, and what is missing cannot be supplied.

  • Eccl 3:10-12
    3 verses
    71%

    10I have observed the burden that God has given to people to keep them occupied.

    11God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives.

    12Enjoy Life in the Present I have concluded that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they live,

  • Eccl 7:23-25
    3 verses
    71%

    23Human Wisdom is Limited I have examined all this by wisdom; I said,“I am determined to comprehend this”– but it was beyond my grasp.

    24Whatever has happened is beyond human understanding; it is far deeper than anyone can fathom.

    25True Righteousness and Wisdom Are Virtually Nonexistent I tried to understand, examine, and comprehend the role of wisdom in the scheme of things, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the insanity of folly.

  • Ps 53:1-2
    2 verses
    70%

    1For the music director; according to the machalath style; a well-written song by David. Fools say to themselves,“There is no God.” They sin and commit evil deeds; none of them does what is right.

    2God looks down from heaven at the human race, to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks God.

  • Job 11:7
    69%

    7“Can you discover the essence of God? Can you find out the perfection of the Almighty?

  • Eccl 6:11
    69%

    11The more one argues with words, the less he accomplishes. How does that benefit him?

  • Eccl 7:20
    69%

    20For there is not one truly righteous person on the earth who continually does good and never sins.

  • Job 33:29
    68%

    29Elihu’s Appeal to Job“Indeed, God does all these things, twice, three times, in his dealings with a person,

  • Eccl 3:18
    68%

    18I also thought to myself,“It is for the sake of people, so God can clearly show them that they are like animals.

  • Eccl 6:1
    68%

    1Not Everyone Enjoys Life Here is another misfortune that I have seen on earth, and it weighs heavily on people:

  • Job 28:12
    68%

    12No Price Can Buy Wisdom“But wisdom– where can it be found? Where is the place of understanding?

  • Ps 14:2
    68%

    2The LORD looks down from heaven at the human race, to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks God.

  • Mic 7:2
    68%

    2Faithful men have disappeared from the land; there are no godly men left. They all wait in ambush to shed blood; they hunt their own brother with a net.

  • Job 32:13
    68%

    13So do not say,‘We have found wisdom! God will refute him, not man!’

  • Job 17:10
    68%

    10Anticipation of Death“But turn, all of you, and come now! I will not find a wise man among you.

  • Prov 20:6
    68%

    6Many people profess their loyalty, but a faithful person– who can find?

  • Prov 7:7
    68%

    7and I saw among the naive– I discerned among the youths– a young man who lacked sense.

  • Job 28:27-28
    2 verses
    68%

    27then he looked at wisdom and assessed its value; he established it and examined it closely.

    28And he said to mankind,‘The fear of the LORD– that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

  • Eccl 2:11
    67%

    11Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, I concluded:“All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless– like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained from them on earth.”

  • Job 5:27
    67%

    27Look, we have investigated this, so it is true. Hear it, and apply it for your own good.”

  • Eccl 9:1
    67%

    1Everyone Will Die So I reflected on all this, attempting to clear it all up. I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God; whether a person will be loved or hated– no one knows what lies ahead.

  • Rom 3:11
    67%

    11there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God.

  • Prov 8:12
    67%

    12“I, wisdom, have dwelt with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.

  • Prov 7:15
    67%

    15That is why I came out to meet you, to look for you, and I found you!

  • Eccl 12:10
    67%

    10The Teacher sought to find delightful words, and to write accurately truthful sayings.

  • Eccl 3:16
    67%

    16The Problem of Injustice and Oppression I saw something else on earth: In the place of justice, there was wickedness, and in the place of fairness, there was wickedness.

  • Job 7:17
    67%

    17Insignificance of Humans“What is mankind that you make so much of them, and that you pay attention to them?

  • Eccl 1:17
    67%

    17So I decided to discern the benefit of wisdom and knowledge over foolish behavior and ideas; however, I concluded that even this endeavor is like trying to chase the wind!

  • Job 20:4
    67%

    4“Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth,

  • Eccl 9:13
    67%

    13Most People Are Not Receptive to Wise Counsel This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, and it is a great burden to me:

  • Eccl 3:22
    67%

    22So I perceived there is nothing better than for people to enjoy their work, because that is their reward; for who can show them what the future holds?

  • Eccl 8:14
    66%

    14Here is another enigma that occurs on earth: Sometimes there are righteous people who get what the wicked deserve, and sometimes there are wicked people who get what the righteous deserve. I said,“This also is an enigma.”

  • Eccl 6:7
    66%

    7All of man’s labor is for nothing more than to fill his stomach– yet his appetite is never satisfied!

  • Acts 17:27
    66%

    27so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

  • Eccl 2:22
    66%

    22Painful Days and Restless Nights What does a man acquire from all his labor and from the anxiety that accompanies his toil on earth?

  • Job 4:17
    66%

    17“Is a mortal man righteous before God? Or a man pure before his Creator?