Ecclesiastes 7:23-25

New International Reader's Version

“I’ve made up my mind to be wise.”
    But it was more than I could accomplish.
²⁴ Whatever exists is far away and very deep.
    Who can find it?
²⁵ So I tried to understand wisdom more completely.
    I wanted to study it and figure it out.
    I tried to find out everything I could about it.
I tried to understand why it’s foolish to be evil.
    I wanted to see why choosing foolishness is so unwise.