The inquiry into folly and evil leads Qoheleth to a conclusion. With this verse he begins to describe what he was able to discover. And I found is actually a participial phrase in Hebrew, giving the sense of an ongoing pattern in Qoheleth’s experience. This can be indicated by “I regularly find…” or “I always find….”

More bitter than death is a comparative phrase in which physical death is viewed in a negative light: it is bitter. Yet there is something else, woman, which is even more bitter. We shall return to this element shortly. For the present we note that the adjective bitter may describe the flavor of some thing (as it does when it describes the water in the desert in Exo 15.23), or it may be a metaphor for something painful and unpleasant (Num 5.24, 27). Here it has the second or metaphorical sense: death is unpleasant because it brings with it so much sadness. It also raises many questions that are difficult to answer.

The woman whose heart is snares and nets: death may be a bitter experience, but according to Qoheleth, woman is even more bitter. Immediately we are confronted with a very difficult problem of interpretation. Is this clause to be taken literally or figuratively? Who is this woman? And why is Qoheleth so negative? Is he a woman-hater, as some have claimed? If not, what is the meaning of the figure?

First we note that it is not just any woman who is more bitter than death. This is a particular woman whose heart is like a trap. In chapter 9 we find a similar image: death and “evil times” are compared to a trap waiting to fall on people. However, saying that death is more bitter than death does not make sense; so we must look to the wider wisdom tradition for an explanation. In the early part of the book of Proverbs, both “wisdom” and “folly” are presented as women. Wisdom is compared to a woman who should be embraced (Pro 4.4), but sin or folly is like a seducing woman who should be avoided (Proverbs 5 and 7). In these chapters of Proverbs we find the same expressions as in the part of Ecclesiastes we are now dealing with: her end is bitter (Pro 5.4), and her victim is taken (or, caught in a snare). Therefore the woman whose heart is snares and nets is most likely to be “folly,” which traps the sinner.

Earlier, when Qoheleth used the noun heart, it was equivalent to “mind.” That seems also to apply in this case: the woman desires or has the intention of trapping someone. Snares and nets are parallel terms with very similar meanings; they refer to the traps or nets used by fishermen and hunters. Without a reference to the heart, this connection is made directly in the New American Bible rendering, “the woman who is a hunter’s trap.” We may also say “the woman is like a snare or a trap,” or use a verb phrase, “her desire [or, will] is to snare and trap….”

Whose hands are fetters: this continues the image. Hands represent her grip on a person, and the term fetters describes anything that binds the hands and feet, preventing free movement. They may be chains or ropes. It indicates that there is no escape from her tight grip. Translators can choose between a noun clause using a comparison, “her hands are like chains,” or a verbal form, “she wants to bind [or, tie up] ….” More freely we can say “her heart will catch you like a snare or trap.” Good News Translation says “the love she offers you will catch you…,” which is a possible rendering but which goes a little farther than the text.

How do we render all this in translation? One possibility is to translate the figure literally as “woman,” but give an explanation of “the woman” in a footnote (see below). Another possibility is to mark the word woman in the text with quotes to show that it is not just any woman, or to say “that woman, folly.” We can also do away with the metaphor, if it is too difficult to understand, and render woman nonfiguratively as “folly.”

Translation can be as follows:

• I have always found that “woman,” folly, to be more bitter than death. Her desire is to entrap and bind a person.

Alternatively we can say:

• I find folly* more bitter than death. It longs to trap and bind a person.
*The Hebrew has “woman,” a reference to folly; see Pro 5 and 7.

Or:

• I realized that the woman who tries to trap you is more horrible than death.*
*This woman represents folly (see Proverbs 5 and 7).

He who pleases God escapes her: the first phrase he who pleases God has been used before in 2.26 and is equivalent to “the person who lives by wisdom” (see comments on 2.26). Qoheleth argues that the wise person will escape from the “woman,” that he will avoid the snares and other traps. Her refers to the woman in the previous clause, and this may be made clear. Alternatively we can say “her snares” or “her trap,” or perhaps best, “folly’s trap.”

But the sinner is taken by her: on the other hand the sinner or fool is captured by the woman. (See comments on “sinner” and “fool” in notes on 2.26.) Some commentators think taken means the man falls in love with the woman’s physical charms, but elsewhere this word is used in the context of a trap. So we can say “the sinner [or, fool] is trapped by her.” Here the verbal phrase in Hebrew is passive, but we can render it as an active if that will make the meaning clearer, “he will fall into her trap,” or as Good News Translation expresses it, “she will catch the sinner.”

Translation of the whole verse can be as follows:

• And I discovered the woman, Folly, who seeks to trap people and bind them. She is more bitter than death. The one who pleases God will escape her snares, but the sinner is trapped by them.

• I found folly—the “woman”—more horrible than death. Folly traps people and puts chains on them. The wise do not fall into her trap, but the fool [or, sinner] does.

A footnote to the word “woman” may possibly say:
*The Hebrew has “the woman.” In Pro 5–9 “woman” symbolized both wisdom and folly. Here the “woman” seems to represent folly.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .