Ecclesiastes 1:17

WEB

¹⁷I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.

KJV

¹⁷And I gave^[+] my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

BSB

¹⁷So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.

FBV

¹⁷So I decided to use my mind to learn everything about wisdom, and madness and foolishness as well. But I found out that this is as hard as trying to catch hold of the wind.

Extra References

Ecclesiastes 2:3

³I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.

1 Thessalonians 5:21

²¹Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.

Ecclesiastes 7:23-25

²³All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, “I will be wise;” but it was far from me. ²⁴That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out? ²⁵I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.

Ecclesiastes 2:10-12

¹⁰Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor. ¹¹Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

¹²I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.

Ecclesiastes 1:13-14

¹³I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God ^[+] has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. ¹⁴I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.