Only this have I found: I have discovered that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, I have only found this: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes.”
- KJV Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
- NKJV Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes.”
- NASB Behold, I have found only this, that God made people upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
- NLT But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Preacher's one firm finding: God made humanity upright, but people have invented countless crooked schemes. The fault lies in human sin, not in the Creator.
Overview
Here is Ecclesiastes' clearest statement on the human condition: created good and upright, mankind fell into self-chosen complexity and evil. This affirms both the goodness of God's design and the reality of the Fall (Genesis 1:31; 3:6). It anticipates the gospel, in which the upright One, Jesus Christ, restores what sin has twisted.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Jer 4:22“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Gen 6:11–12Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.
- Mark 7:8–9You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”
- Gen 5:1This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness.
- Titus 3:3For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- Gen 6:5–6Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.
- Jer 2:12–13Be stunned by this, O heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled,” declares the LORD.
- Eph 2:2–3in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
- Gen 1:26–27Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
- Ps 106:39They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.
- Ps 99:8O LORD our God, You answered them. You were a forgiving God to them, yet an avenger of their misdeeds.
- Gen 3:6–7When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
- Ps 106:29So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
- Gen 11:4–6“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”
- Rom 3:9–19What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.
- Acts 7:40–43They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
- Rom 1:21–32For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- Ezek 22:6–13See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 7:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.