Ecclesiastes 7:25

Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

I have turned round, also my heart, to know and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and reason, and to know the wrong of folly, and of foolishness the madness.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

סַבּוֹתִי אֲנִי וְלִבִּי לָדַעַת וְלָתוּר וּבַקֵּשׁ חָכְמָה וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן וְלָדַעַת רֶשַׁע כֶּסֶל וְהַסִּכְלוּת הוֹלֵלוֹת

Transliteration

Sabbôṯî I and-libbî lāḏaʿaṯ and-lāṯûr and-ḇaqqēš ḥoḵmāh and-ḥešbôn and-lāḏaʿaṯ rešaʿ kesel and-the-sikḵəlûṯ hôlēlôṯ

Grammar Details

• *Sabbôṯî*: Qal perfect 1st common singular - I turned
• *libbî*: noun, masculine singular with 1st common singular suffix - my heart
• *lāḏaʿaṯ*: Qal infinitive construct with preposition - to know
• *lāṯûr*: Qal infinitive construct with preposition - to explore
• *ḇaqqēš*: Piel infinitive construct - to seek
• *ḥoḵmāh*: noun, feminine singular - wisdom
• *ḥešbôn*: noun, masculine singular - account/reason
• *rešaʿ*: noun, masculine singular - wickedness
• *kesel*: noun, masculine singular - folly
• *sikḵəlûṯ*: noun, feminine singular with definite article - the foolishness
• *hôlēlôṯ*: noun, feminine plural - madness

Word Meanings

• *Sabbôṯî*: I turned/I applied myself/I explored
• *lāḏaʿaṯ*: to know/to understand/to comprehend
• *lāṯûr*: to explore/to search out/to investigate
• *ḇaqqēš*: to seek/to search for/to pursue
• *ḥoḵmāh*: wisdom/understanding/insight
• *ḥešbôn*: account/reason/calculation/conclusion
• *rešaʿ*: wickedness/evil/iniquity
• *kesel*: folly/stupidity
• *sikḵəlûṯ*: foolishness/folly
• *hôlēlôṯ*: madness/senselessness

Referenced Verses

• Eccl 10:13 : 13 The beginning of the words of his mouth `is' folly, And the latter end of his mouth `Is' mischievous madness.
• Jer 12:1-2 : 1 Righteous `art' Thou, O Jehovah, When I plead towards thee, Only, judgments do I speak with Thee, Wherefore did the way of the wicked prosper? At rest have been all treacherous dealers. 2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root, They go on, yea, they have made fruit, Near `art' Thou in their mouth, And far off from their reins.
• 2 Pet 2:3-9 : 3 and in covetousness, with moulded words, of you they shall make merchandise, whose judgment of old is not idle, and their destruction doth not slumber. 4 For if God messengers who sinned did not spare, but with chains of thick gloom, having cast `them' down to Tartarus, did deliver `them' to judgment, having been reserved, 5 and the old world did not spare, but the eighth person, Noah, of righteousness a preacher, did keep, a flood on the world of the impious having brought, 6 and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah having turned to ashes, with an overthrow did condemn, an example to those about to be impious having set `them'; 7 and righteous Lot, worn down by the conduct in lasciviousness of the impious, He did rescue, 8 for in seeing and hearing, the righteous man, dwelling among them, day by day the righteous soul with unlawful works was harassing. 9 The Lord hath known to rescue pious ones out of temptation, and unrighteous ones to a day of judgment, being punished, to keep,
• 2 Pet 3:3-9 : 3 this first knowing, that there shall come in the latter end of the days scoffers, according to their own desires going on, 4 and saying, `Where is the promise of his presence? for since the fathers did fall asleep, all things so remain from the beginning of the creation;' 5 for this is unobserved by them willingly, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of water and through water standing together by the word of God, 6 through which the then world, by water having been deluged, was destroyed; 7 and the present heavens and the earth, by the same word are treasured, for fire being kept to a day of judgment and destruction of the impious men. 8 And this one thing let not be unobserved by you, beloved, that one day with the Lord `is' as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; 9 the Lord is not slow in regard to the promise, as certain count slowness, but is long-suffering to us, not counselling any to be lost but all to pass on to reformation,
• Gen 34:7 : 7 and the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard, and the men grieve themselves, and it `is' very displeasing to them, for folly he hath done against Israel, to lie with the daughter of Jacob -- and so it is not done.
• Josh 7:13 : 13 `Rise, sanctify the people, and thou hast said, Sanctify yourselves for to-morrow; for thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, A devoted thing `is' in thy midst, O Israel, thou art not able to stand before thine enemies till your turning aside of the devoted thing out of your midst;
• 2 Sam 13:12 : 12 And she saith to him, `Nay, my brother, do not humble me, for it is not done so in Israel; do not this folly.
• Prov 17:12 : 12 The meeting of a bereaved bear by a man, And -- not a fool in his folly.
• Prov 26:11 : 11 As a dog hath returned to its vomit, A fool is repeating his folly.
• Eccl 1:13-17 : 13 And I have given my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that hath been done under the heavens. It `is' a sad travail God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it. 14 I have seen all the works that have been done under the sun, and lo, the whole `is' vanity and vexation of spirit! 15 A crooked thing `one' is not able to make straight, and a lacking thing is not able to be numbered. 16 I -- I spake with my heart, saying, `I, lo, I have magnified and added wisdom above every one who hath been before me at Jerusalem, and my heart hath seen abundantly wisdom and knowledge. 17 And I give my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I have known that even this `is' vexation of spirit;
• Eccl 2:1-3 : 1 I said in my heart, `Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it `is' vanity. 2 Of laughter I said, `Foolish!' and of mirth, `What `is' this it is doing?' 3 I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite, (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly till that I see where `is' this -- the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.
• Eccl 2:12 : 12 And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what `is' the man who cometh after the king? that which `is' already -- they have done it!
• Eccl 2:15 : 15 and I said in my heart, `As it happeneth with the fool, it happeneth also with me, and why am I then more wise?' And I spake in my heart, that also this `is' vanity:
• Eccl 2:20 : 20 And I turned round to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour that I laboured at under the sun.
• Eccl 3:16-17 : 16 And again, I have seen under the sun the place of judgment -- there `is' the wicked; and the place of righteousness -- there `is' the wicked. 17 I said in my heart, `The righteous and the wicked doth God judge, for a time `is' to every matter and for every work there.'
• Eccl 7:27 : 27 See, this I have found, said the Preacher, one to one, to find out the reason
• Eccl 9:1-3 : 1 But all this I have laid unto my heart, so as to clear up the whole of this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, `are' in the hand of God, neither love nor hatred doth man know, the whole `is' before them. 2 The whole `is' as to the whole; one event is to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, and to him who is sacrificing, and to him who is not sacrificing; as `is' the good, so `is' the sinner, he who is swearing as he who is fearing an oath. 3 This `is' an evil among all that hath been done under the sun, that one event `is' to all, and also the heart of the sons of man is full of evil, and madness `is' in their heart during their life, and after it -- unto the dead.