23. All this I have tested with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise!” but it was beyond my grasp.
24. Whatever is—it is far beyond comprehension. Who can discover it?
25. I set my mind to try to seek wisdom and the plan, and to know that wickedness is foolishness and that folly is delusion.
26. I myself found that more bitter than death is the woman who is a trap, whose heart is a snare, and whose hands are bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her.
27. “Look! I found this,” said the Teacher, “while trying to find how the plan fits together.
28. What my heart sought, I did not find. Although I found one righteous man among one thousand, I did not find one upright woman among all these.
29. Look! This alone I found: God made mankind upright, but they have devised many schemes.”