Study Desk

"Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can rivers drown it. If a man would offer all the riches of his house for love, It would be utterly scorned and despised."

"We have a little sister And she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister On the day when she is spoken for [in marriage]?

"Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers; Each one was to bring him a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

"My very own vineyard is at my disposal; The thousand [shekels of silver] are for you, O Solomon, And two hundred are for those who tend the fruit."

"O you who sit in the gardens, My companions are listening for your voice— Let me hear it."

Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; For the LORD has spoken: "I have reared and brought up sons, But they have rebelled against Me and have broken away.

"So when you spread out your hands [in prayer, pleading for My help], I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you offer many prayers, I will not be listening. Your hands are full of blood!

Learn to do good. Seek justice, Rebuke the ruthless, Defend the fatherless, Plead for the [rights of the] widow [in court].

But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

For you will be ashamed [of the degradation] of the oaks in which you took [idolatrous] pleasure, And you will be ashamed of the gardens [of passion] which you have chosen [for pagan worship].

For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers and dies And like a garden that has no water.

And many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house (temple) of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us His ways And that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go out from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And He will judge between the nations, And will mediate [disputes] for many peoples; And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up the sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.

For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against all who are proud and arrogant And against all who are lifted up, That they may be degraded.

In that day men will throw away to the moles and to the bats Their idols of silver and their idols of gold, Which they made for themselves [as objects] to worship,

Stop regarding man, whose breath [of life] is in his nostrils [for so little time]; For why should he be esteemed?

He will protest on that day, saying, "I will not be a governor; For in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; You should not make me a judge and ruler of the people."

For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their words and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence and defiantly provoke Him.

Their partiality testifies against them, They display their sin like Sodom; They do not even hide it. Woe (judgment is coming) to them! For they have brought evil on themselves [as a reward].

Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, For they will eat the fruit of their [righteous] actions.