Study Desk

Do not curse a king even in your thoughts, and do not curse the rich while in your bedroom; for a bird might report what you are thinking, or some winged creature might repeat your words.

Send your grain overseas, for after many days you will get a return.

Divide your merchandise among seven or even eight investments, for you do not know what calamity may happen on earth.

Sow your seed in the morning, and do not stop working until the evening; for you do not know which activity will succeed— whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally.

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun.

Banish emotional stress from your mind. and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

For God will evaluate every deed, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine.

Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has burned my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards. Alas, my own vineyard I could not keep!

We will make for you gold ornaments studded with silver.

Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. The Double Refrain: Embracing and Adjuration

The pomegranates have appeared in the land, the time for pruning and singing has come; the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The Lover to His Beloved: O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the mountain crags, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

The Beloved to Her Lover: Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyards— for our vineyard is in bloom.

The Beloved about Her Lover: All night long on my bed I longed for my lover. I longed for him but he never appeared.

"I will arise and look all around throughout the town, and throughout the streets and squares; I will search for my beloved." I searched for him but I did not find him.

King Solomon made a sedan chair for himself of wood imported from Lebanon.

The Beloved about Her Lover: I was asleep, but my mind was dreaming. Listen! My lover is knocking at the door! The Lover to His Beloved: "Open for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one! My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night."

My lover thrust his hand through the hole, and my feelings were stirred for him.

I arose to open for my beloved; my hands dripped with myrrh— my fingers flowed with myrrh on the handles of the lock.