Study Desk

As shameful conduct is pleasure for a fool,so wisdom is for a person of understanding.

Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,so the slacker is to the one who sends him on an errand.

The lips of the wise broadcast knowledge,but not so the heart of fools.

For the prudent the path of life leads upward,so that he may avoid going down to Sheol.

Even a courageous person’s steps are determined by the Lord,so how can anyone understand his own way?

I have instructed you today—even you—so that your confidence may be in the Lord.

in order to teach you true and reliable words,so that you may give a dependable reportto those who sent you?

As the heavens are high and the earth is deep,so the hearts of kings cannot be investigated.

As a dog returns to its vomit,so also a fool repeats his foolishness.

so is the person who deceives his neighborand says, “I was only joking!”

As charcoal for embers and wood for fire,so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.

Be wise, my son, and bring my heart joy,so that I can answer anyone who taunts me.

As water reflects the face,so the heart reflects the person.

Let him drink so that he can forget his povertyand remember his trouble no more.

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me.

So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.

So I began to give myself over to despair concerning all my work that I had labored at under the sun.

I know that everything God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of him.

I said to myself, “This happens so that God may test the children of Adam and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.”

For the fate of the children of Adam and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile.