Study Desk

If a ruler pays attention to lies, All his servants become wicked.

The king who judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever.

The rod and rebuke give wisdom, But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

He who pampers his servant from childhood Will have him as a son in the end.

Whoever is a partner with a thief hates his own life;He swears to tell the truth, [fn] but reveals nothing.

The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, his utterance. This man declared to Ithiel--to Ithiel and Ucal:

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name, If you know?

Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

Do not malign a servant to his master, Lest he curse you, and you be found guilty.

The eye that mocks his father, And scorns obedience to his mother, The ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it.

The words of King Lemuel, the utterance which his mother taught him:

Let him drink and forget his poverty, And remember his misery no more.

What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?

The wise man's eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceived That the same event happens to them all.

For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?

For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.

For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.