Study Desk

Not for kings, O Lemuel, Not for kings, to drink wine, And for princes a desire of strong drink.

Open thy mouth for the dumb, For the right of all sons of change.

She is not afraid of her household from snow, For all her household are clothed [with] scarlet.

Ornamental coverings she hath made for herself, Silk and purple [are] her clothing.

for, in abundance of wisdom [is] abundance of sadness, and he who addeth knowledge addeth pain.'

I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards.

I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.

I made for me pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.

I gathered for me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I prepared for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of man -- a wife and wives.

And all that mine eyes asked I kept not back from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour, and this hath been my portion, from all my labour,

That there is no remembrance to the wise -- with the fool -- to the age, for that which [is] already, [in] the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dieth the wise? with the fool!

And I have hated life, for sad to me [is] the work that hath been done under the sun, for the whole [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity, and to a man who hath not laboured therein he giveth it -- his portion! Even this [is] vanity and a great evil.

For what hath been to a man by all his labour, and by the thought of his heart that he laboured at under the sun?

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart hath not lain down; this also [is] vanity.

For who eateth and who hasteth out more than I?

For to a man who [is] good before Him, He hath given wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; and to a sinner He hath given travail, to gather and to heap up, to give to the good before God. Even this [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

I have known that there is no good for them except to rejoice and to do good during their life,

I said in my heart, `The righteous and the wicked doth God judge, for a time [is] to every matter and for every work there.'

For an event [is to] the sons of man, and an event [is to] the beasts, even one event [is] to them; as the death of this, so [is] the death of that; and one spirit [is] to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole [is] vanity.