Study Desk

For oppression makes a wise man mad; and a bribe destroys the heart.

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Do not be hasty in your spirit to be angry; for vexation rests in the bosom of fools.

Do not say, Why was it that the former days were better than these? For you do not ask from wisdom concerning this.

Wisdom is good with an inheritance; yea, a gain to those who see the sun.

For wisdom is in a shadow; and silver is in a shadow; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.

Wisdom makes the wise stronger than ten rulers who are in the city.

For there is not a just man on the earth who does good, and does not sin.

Also, do not give your heart to all the words they speak, that you not hear your servant cursing you.

For also your own heart knows that you yourself have also cursed others many times.

All this I have tested by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.

That which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?

And I turned my heart about, to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things , and to know the wickedness of folly, and the foolishness of madness:

and I found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets; her hands are bonds. He who is good before God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be captured by her.

As dead flies cause the perfumer's ointment to stink and ferment; so a little foolishness is heavier than wisdom and than honor.

The heart of the wise is toward his right, but the fool's heart toward his left.

And also, in the way in which a stupid one walks, his heart fails, and he says to all that he is a fool.

If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place; for composure quiets great offenses.

There is an evil I have seen under the sun, sins which come from the face of the ruler:

folly is set in many high positions , and many rich men sit in low situations .

I have seen slaves on horses, and rulers walking as slaves on the earth.

He who digs a pit may fall into it; and one breaking a wall, a snake may bite him.

Whoever pulls out stones may be hurt with them; he who splits trees may be endangered by them.

If the iron is blunt, and he does not whet the mouths, then he must put more strength to it . But wisdom is an advantage giving success.

If the snake will bite without charming, then there is no advantage to a master of tongue.

The words of a wise mouth are grace, but the lips of a stupid one swallow him;

the beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his mouth is evil madness.

Yet the stupid one makes many words; a man knows not what they shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

The labor of fools wearies him, because he does not know how to go to the city.

Woe to you, O land, when your king is a boy, and your leaders eat in the morning.

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your leaders eat in due time, in strength, and not in drinking.

The framework tumbles through laziness; and through lowering of hands, the house leaks.

Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life; but silver answers all things .

Also, do not curse a king in your thought; and do not curse the rich in your bedrooms; for a bird of the heavens may carry the voice; yea, the lord of wings may tell the matter.

Send out your bread on the face of the waters, for you shall find it in many days.

Give a share to seven, or even to eight; for you do not know what evil may be on the earth.

If the clouds are full of rain, they empty on the earth. And if the tree falls in the south, or in the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall be.

He who watches the wind shall not sow. And he who looks at the clouds shall not reap.

As you do not know what is the way of the wind, as the bones in the pregnant woman's womb, even so you do not know the works of God who makes all.

Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hand until evening; for you do not know what shall be blessed, this or that; or whether they both shall be good as one.