See, this alone I have found, that God made man upright, and they -- they have sought out many devices.Ecclesiastes 7:29 Additional Translations
Clarke's Commentary on the BibleLo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright - Whatever evil may be now found among men and women, it is not of God; for God made them all upright. This is a singular verse, and has been most variously translated:
עשה האלהים את האדם ישר והמה בקשו חשבנות רבים asah haelohim eth haadam yashar vehemhah bikkeshu chishbonoth rabbim.
"Elohim has made mankind upright, and they have sought many computations."
"He hath meddled with endless questions." - Vulgate.
"Many reasonings." - Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic.
"They seek dyverse sotylties." Coverdale.
And he himself mengide with questions without eend. - Old MS. Bible.
The Targum considers the text as speaking of Adam and Eve.
"This have I found out, that the Lord made the first man upright before him, and innocent: but the serpent and Eve seduced him to eat of the fruit of the tree, which gave the power to those who ate of it to discern between good and evil; and was the cause that death came upon him, and all the inhabitants of the earth; and they sought that they might find out many stratagems to bring this evil upon all the inhabitants of the world."
I doubt much whether the word חשבנות chishbonoth should be taken in a bad sense. It may signify the whole of human devices, imaginations, inventions, artifice, with all their products; arts, sciences, schemes, plans, and all that they have found out for the destruction or melioration of life. God has given man wondrous faculties; and of them he has made strange uses, and sovereign abuses: and they have been, in consequence, at one time his help, and at another his bane. This is the fair way of understanding this question.
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
god
Genesis 1:26,27 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea...
Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
they
Genesis 3:6,7 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise...
Genesis 6:5,6,11,12 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth...
Genesis 11:4-6 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach to heaven; and let us make us a name...
Psalm 99:8 You answered them, O LORD our God: you were a God that forgave them, though you took vengeance of their inventions.
Psalm 106:29,39 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague broke in on them...
Jeremiah 2:12,13 Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be you very desolate, said the LORD...
Jeremiah 4:22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are silly children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil...
Ezekiel 22:16-13 And you shall take your inheritance in yourself in the sight of the heathen, and you shall know that I am the LORD...
Mark 7:8,9 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups...
Acts 7:40-43 Saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt...
Romans 1:21-32 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations...
Romans 3:9-19 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin...
Ephesians 2:2,3 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air...
Titus 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy...
Ecclesiastes 7:29 Parallel Commentaries
Alone Devices Found Inventions Mankind Schemes Search Searching Sorts Sought UprightAlone Devices Found Inventions Mankind Schemes Search Searching Sorts Sought UprightTHE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica®.Ecclesiastes 7:29 Mobile Bible
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