Ecclesiastes 7:25

I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Preacher recounts his own deliberate intellectual pursuit after observing in Ecclesiastes 7:24 that reality remains fundamentally unsearchable. He addresses his audience through first-person reflection on his attempt to grasp human existence.

The words — סַבּ֨וֹתִֽי (sa.Bo.ti) translates literally as "I turned," describing a deliberate shift of attention, while חֶשְׁבּ֑וֹן (chesh.Bon) means "an explanation" or calculated account. The text states the speaker actively directed his heart to know, examine, and seek wisdom before confronting wickedness.

The thread — The pursuit of wisdom and the warning against madness appear in Ecclesiastes 10:13, where speech begins in folly and ends in evil madness. Joshua 7:13 and Genesis 34:7 frame the broader biblical pattern of turning away from folly to confront entrenched sin.

Why it lands — The passage demands readers acknowledge the limits of human intellect when pursuing truth. It requires a sober assessment of one's own motives and a clear-eyed recognition of how folly corrupts understanding.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

סַבּ֨וֹתִֽיsa.Bo.tiI turned אֲנִ֤י'a.NiI וְלִבִּי֙ve./li.B/i<and>/ heart/ my לָדַ֣עַתla./Da.'atto/ know וְלָת֔וּרve./la./Turand/ to/ examine וּבַקֵּ֥שׁu./va.Keshand/ to seek חָכְמָ֖הchokh.mahwisdom וְחֶשְׁבּ֑וֹןve./chesh.Bonand/ an explanation וְלָדַ֙עַת֙ve./la./Da.'atand/ to/ know רֶ֣שַׁעRe.sha'wickedness כֶּ֔סֶלKe.selstupidity וְהַסִּכְל֖וּתve./ha./sikh.Lutand/ the/ folly הוֹלֵלֽוֹת׃ho.le.Lotmadness

King James Version

I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

Cross-references

Ecclesiastes 10:13 The beginning of his talk is folly, and the end of his speech is evil madness.
Joshua 7:13 Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.
Genesis 34:7 When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.
2 Samuel 13:12 “No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not violate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing!
Proverbs 17:12 It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.
Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
Ecclesiastes 1:13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a miserable task God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them!
Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile.
Ecclesiastes 2:12 Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?
Ecclesiastes 2:15 So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.