Study Desk

Just as no one has the power to keep the wind from blowing, so no one has power over the day of death. If one is drafted to fight a war, one can't send a substitute; likewise the wicked won't escape death by their wickedness.

So I recommend enjoyment — a person can do nothing better under the sun than eat, drink and enjoy himself; this is what should accompany him as he does his work for as long as God gives him to live under the sun.

So go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God has already accepted your deeds.

So, although I say that wisdom is better than strength, nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised; nobody pays attention to what he says.

Just as dead flies make perfumed oil stink, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

Just as you don't know the way of the wind or how bones grow in a pregnant woman's womb, so you don't know the work of God, the maker of everything.

So remember your creator while you are young, before the evil days come, and the years approach when you will say, "They no longer give me pleasure";

on the day when the guards of the house are trembling, and men of courage are bent over double; when the women stop grinding grain, because there are so few; when the women at the windows can no longer see out;

In addition, my son, take heed: one can write many books — there's no end to it; and one can study so much that it wearies the flesh.

[She] — Look at you! So handsome, so pleasing, my darling! Our bed is the greenery;

[Chorus] Where has your darling gone, you most beautiful of women? Which way did your darling turn, so that we can help you find him?

[Chorus] Where has your darling gone, you most beautiful of women? Which way did your darling turn, so that we can help you find him? [She] My darling went down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies. I belong to the man I love, and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies. [He] You are as beautiful as Tirtzah, my love, as lovely as Yerushalayim, but formidable as an army marching under banners. Turn your eyes away from me, because they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Gil‘ad. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that have just come up from being washed; each of them is matched, and none of them is missing. Your cheeks are like a pomegranate split open behind your veil. There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, as well as young women beyond number; but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, her mother's only child, the darling of the one who bore her. The daughters see her and call her happy; the queens and concubines praise her. "Who is this, shining forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun" — but formidable as an army marching under banners? [She] I had gone down to the nut orchard to see the fresh green plants in the valley, to see if the vine had budded, or if the pomegranate trees were in bloom. Before I knew it, I found myself in a chariot, and with me was a prince.

[She] I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; so in his view I am like one who brings peace.

A man will take hold of his brother in his father's house and say, "You have a coat, so rule us! Take charge of this ruin!"

Moreover Adonai says: "Because Tziyon's women are so proud, walking with their heads in the air and throwing seductive glances, moving with mincing steps and jingling their anklets —

What more could I have done for my vineyard that I haven't already done in it? So why, when I expected good grapes, did it produce sour, wild grapes?

Now the vineyard of Adonai -Tzva'ot is the house of Isra'el, and the men of Y'hudah are the plant he delighted in. So he expected justice, but look — bloodshed! — and righteousness, but listen — cries of distress!

They say, "We want God to speed up his work, to hurry it along, so we can see it! We want the Holy One of Isra'el's plan to come true right now, so we can be sure of it!"

Therefore, as fire licks up the stubble, and the chaff is consumed in the flame; so their root will rot, and their flowers scatter like dust; because they have rejected the Torah of Adonai -Tzva'ot, they have despised the word of the Holy One of Isra'el.

This is why Adonai 's anger blazed up against his people, why he stretched out his hand against them and struck them [so hard that] the hills shook, and corpses lay like trash in the streets. Even after all this, his anger remains, his upraised hand still threatens.