What Does Ecclesiastes 7:26 Mean in the King James?

And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Ecclesiastes 7:26 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Here the heart lays the snare and the hands complete it: the trap is already a bond in motion.

THE MEANING

The verse names a woman whose heart is a snare and whose hands bind; the danger is personal and active now. What is good before God escapes her, while the one who misses is caught by her.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that capture begins only when the hands close: here, the trap is already in the heart.

THE ROOT

מְצוֹדִים

metsodim

GROWS FROM

צוד

⁨צוד⁩ (ṣûd) means to hunt, pursue, or catch.

⁨מְצוֹדִים⁩ (metsodim, snares) grows from ⁨צוד⁩ (ṣûd, hunt or catch). The word carries the activity of hunting inside the trap: this is pursuit that intends capture, while the nearby bonds show where that pursuit ends.

ALSO GROWS

lāṣûd: to hunt, pursue, catch

לָצוּד

This verb names the action behind the snares: the trap is hunting gear.

məṣûdāh: hunting net, trap; stronghold

מְצוּדָה

The same word family names both what catches and what holds, extending the image from snaring to confinement.

אֲסוּרִים

asurim

GROWS FROM

אסר

⁨אסר⁩ (ʾāsar) means to bind or tie up.

⁨אֲסוּרִים⁩ (asurim, bands) carries the root’s action of binding. Its related forms also mean bound or forbidden, so the image reaches from the hands’ touch to restricted freedom.

ALSO GROWS

ʾāsûr: bound; forbidden

אָסוּר

The bound state makes explicit what the hands as bands do in the verse.

ʾissûr: binding; prohibition

אִסּוּר

This form links physical restraint with a condition that limits what can be done.

חוֹטֵא

ḥōṭēʾ

GROWS FROM

חטא

⁨חטא⁩ (ḥṭʾ) means to miss or miss the mark.

“sinner” in this verse is ḥōṭēʾ. ⁨חוֹטֵא⁩ (ḥōṭēʾ, one who misses) identifies the person through the act of missing. The verse sets that missing alongside the capture described by ⁨צוד⁩ (ṣûd, hunt or catch).

ALSO GROWS

ḥēṭʾ: a missing; an offense

חֵטְא

The noun names the act that the verse associates with being caught.

ḥaṭṭāʾt: missing; an offering for the missing

חַטָּאת

This related form keeps the language of missing visible even where English may use a different word.

THE PATTERN

A snare’s pull can become captivity, while deliverance is pictured as escape from what has caught hold.

Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

Psalm 124:7 · KJVThe captured one gets out when the snare that held it breaks.

His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

Proverbs 5:22 · KJVWhat catches a person becomes cords that hold him.

And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

2 Timothy 2:26 · KJVThe snare is shown as captivity, and recovery as coming out of its hold.

THE THREAD

Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

Psalm 124:7 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨מלט⁩ (mālaṭ, escape or deliver): Ecclesiastes has ⁨יִמָּלֵט⁩ (yimmālēṭ, he escapes), and Psalm 124 has ⁨נִמְלְטָה⁩ (nimləṭāh, escaped). Psalm 124 makes the same movement visible: the snare breaks, and the bird gets out.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us