Study Desk

Do not let your mouth cause you to sin. And do not say to the one sent from God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of what you said, and destroy the work of your hands?

When those riches are lost because he used them in a wrong way, and he had become the father of a son, there was nothing left for him.

For he will not think much about the years of his life, because God keeps him happy in his heart.

To have sorrow is better than to laugh because when a face is sad, the heart may become strong.

I say, "Obey the words of the king because of the promise you made to God.

Because a sinful act is not punished in a hurry, so the hearts of the sons of men are given completely over to sin.

But it will not go well for the sinful man. His days will not be long like a shadow, because he does not fear God.

Do not curse a king even in your thoughts, and do not curse a rich man in your bedroom because a bird of the heavens will carry your voice and an animal with wings will make it known.

So put away trouble from your heart, and put away pain from your body. Because the years when you were a child and the best years of your life are going by fast.

This will be the day when the men who watch the house shake in fear. Strong men bow. Those who grind will stop because they are few. And the eyes of those who look through windows will not see well.

The Song of Songs, the most beautiful of them all, which is Solomon's. "May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine. Your oils have a pleasing smell. Your name is like oil poured out. So the young women love you. Take me away with you, and let us run together. The king has brought me into his room. "We will have joy and be glad because of you. We will praise your love more than wine. They are right to love you. "I am dark but beautiful, O people of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not look hard at me because I am dark, for the sun has burned me. My mother's sons were angry with me, and made me take care of the grape-fields. But I have not taken care of my own grape-field. Tell me, O you whom my soul loves. In what field do you feed your flock? Where do your sheep lie down at noon? Why should I need to look for you beside the flocks of your friends?" "If you do not know, most beautiful among women, follow the path of the flock. And let your young goats eat in the field beside the tents of the shepherds. "To me, my love, you are like my horse among the war-wagons of Pharaoh. Your face is beautiful with the objects you wear, and your neck with the beautiful chain around it. We will make objects of gold and silver for you." "While the king was at his table, my perfume gave out its smell. My loved one is like a jar of perfume to me, who lies all night between my breasts. My loved one is to me like many henna flowers, in the grape-fields of Engedi." "How beautiful you are, my love! How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves." "How beautiful you are, my love, and so pleasing! Our bed is green. The pillars of our house are cedars. The pieces on our roof are pine.

Take me away with you, and let us run together. The king has brought me into his room. "We will have joy and be glad because of you. We will praise your love more than wine. They are right to love you.

Do not look hard at me because I am dark, for the sun has burned me. My mother's sons were angry with me, and made me take care of the grape-fields. But I have not taken care of my own grape-field.

Make me strong with cakes of dried grapes. Make me strong again with fruit, because I am sick with love.

For You have left Your people, the family of Jacob, because they are filled with the sinful ways of the East. They use secret ways to tell the future like the Philistines. And they make agreements with the children of strangers.

Men will go into the caves of the rocks and into holes of the earth because of the anger of the Lord and the shining-greatness of His power when He rises up to shake the earth.

For Jerusalem has no strength, and Judah has fallen, because their speaking and their actions are against the Lord. They have turned against His shining-greatness.

So My people are taken away to strange lands because they have not been wise. Their men of honor are dying because they are hungry. Their people are dried up because they are thirsty.

Because of this the anger of the Lord has burned against His people. He has put out His hand against them and destroyed them. The mountains shook. Their dead bodies lay like waste in the center of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away but His hand is still put out.

Then I said, "It is bad for me, for I am destroyed! Because I am a man whose lips are unclean. And I live among a people whose lips are unclean. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of All."