Ecclesiastes 7:23

WEB

²³All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, “I will be wise;” but it was far from me.

KJV

²³¶ All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.

BSB

²³All this I tested by wisdom, saying, “I resolve to be wise.” But it was beyond me.

FBV

²³I have examined all this using the principles of wisdom. I told myself, “I will think wisely.” But wisdom eluded me.

Extra References

Romans 1:22

²²Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Genesis 3:5

⁵for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

1 Corinthians 1:20

²⁰Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

¹¹God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, ¹²behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you.

1 Kings 11:1-8

¹Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, ²of the nations concerning which the LORD said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon joined to these in love. ³He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. His wives turned his heart away. ⁴When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father was. ⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶Solomon did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and didn’t go fully after the LORD, as David his father did. ⁷Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. ⁸So he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.