Study Desk

Listen carefully to what wise people say; pay attention to what I am teaching you.

I am teaching them to you now so that you will put your trust in the Lord .

I am teaching you true and reliable words so that you can give true answers to anyone who asks.

"I am the most stupid person there is, and I have no understanding.

If I have too much, I might reject you and say, ‘I don't know the Lord .' If I am poor, I might steal and disgrace the name of my God.

I said to myself, "I have become very wise and am now wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are."

I saw a man who had no family, no son or brother. He always worked hard but was never satisfied with what he had. He never asked himself, "For whom am I working so hard? Why don't I let myself enjoy life?" This also is very sad and useless.

Don't look at how dark I am, at how dark the sun has made me. My brothers were angry with me and made me tend the vineyards, so I haven't tended my own vineyard!

I am a rose in the Plain of Sharon, a lily in the valleys.

Strengthen me with raisins, and refresh me with apples, because I am weak with love.

My lover is mine, and I am his. He feeds among the lilies

Promise me, women of Jerusalem, if you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love.

I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. So I was to him, as one who brings happiness.

The Lord says, "I do not want all these sacrifices. I have had enough of your burnt sacrifices of male sheep and fat from fine animals. I am not pleased by the blood of bulls, lambs, and goats.

I hate your New Moon feasts and your other yearly feasts. They have become a heavy weight on me, and I am tired of carrying it.

I said, "Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure, and I live among people who are not pure, but I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful."

Then I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom can I send? Who will go for us?" So I said, "Here I am. Send me!"

I am here, and with me are the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and proofs for the people of Israel from the Lord All-Powerful, who lives on Mount Zion.

I send it to fight against a nation that is separated from God. I am angry with those people, so I command Assyria to fight against them, to take their wealth from them, to trample them down like dirt in the streets.

But Assyria's king doesn't understand that I am using him; he doesn't know he is a tool for me. He only wants to destroy other people and to defeat many nations.