and your princes eat in due season,
for strength, and not for drunkenness!
18 By slothfulness the roof sinks in;
and through idleness of the hands the house leaks.
19 A feast is made for laughter,
and wine makes the life glad;
and money is the answer for all things.
20 Don’t curse the king, no, not in your thoughts;
and don’t curse the rich in your bedroom,
for a bird of the sky may carry your voice,
and that which has wings may tell the matter.
11
1 Cast your bread on the waters;
for you shall find it after many days.
2 Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight;
for you don’t know what evil will be on the earth.
3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth;
and if a tree falls towards the south, or towards the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be.
4 He who observes the wind won’t sow;
and he who regards the clouds won’t reap.
5 As you don’t know what is the way of the wind,
nor how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child;
even so you don’t know the work of God who does all.
6 In the morning sow your seed,
and in the evening don’t withhold your hand;
for you don’t know which will prosper, whether this or that,
or whether they both will be equally good.
7 Truly the light is sweet,
and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to see the sun.
8 Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all;
but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many.
All that comes is vanity.
9 Rejoice, young man, in your youth,
and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth,
and walk in the ways of your heart,
and in the sight of your eyes;
but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgement.
10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart,
and put away evil from your flesh;
for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
12
1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the evil days come, and the years draw near,
when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them;”
2 Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened,
and the clouds return after the rain;
3 in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble,
and the strong men shall bow themselves,
and the grinders cease because they are few,
and those who look out of the windows are darkened,
4 and the doors shall be shut in the street;
when the sound of the grinding is low,
and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird,
and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;
5 yes, they shall be afraid of heights,
and terrors will be on the way;
and the almond tree shall blossom,
and the grasshopper shall be a burden,
and desire shall fail;
because man goes to his everlasting home,
and the mourners go about the streets;
6 before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken,
or the pitcher is broken at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the cistern,
7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher.
“All is vanity!”
9 Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are like goads; and like nails well fastened are words from the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. 12 Furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every work into judgement, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
† 1:10: “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
‡ 1:13: The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
† 9:10: Sheol is the place of the dead.
Song of Solomon
The Song of Solomon
1
1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
Beloved
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth;
for your love is better than wine.
3 Your oils have a pleasing fragrance.
Your name is oil poured out,
therefore the virgins love you.
4 Take me away with you.
Let’s hurry.
The king has brought me into his rooms.
Friends
We will be glad and rejoice in you.
We will praise your love more than wine!
Beloved
They are right to love you.
5 I am dark, but lovely,
you daughters of Jerusalem,
like Kedar’s tents,
like Solomon’s curtains.
6 Don’t stare at me because I am dark,
because the sun has scorched me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me.
They made me keeper of the vineyards.
I haven’t kept my own vineyard.
7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you graze your flock,
where you rest them at noon;
for why should I be as one who is veiled
beside the flocks of your companions?
Lover
8 If you don’t know, most beautiful amongst women,
follow the tracks of the sheep.
Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 I have compared you, my love,
to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
your neck with strings of jewels.
Friends
11 We will make you earrings of gold,
with studs of silver.
Beloved
12 While the king sat at his table,
my perfume spread its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh,
that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
from the vineyards of En Gedi.
Lover
15 Behold,† you are beautiful, my love.
Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are like doves.
Beloved
16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant;
and our couch is verdant.
Lover
17 The beams of our house are cedars.
Our rafters are firs.
2
Beloved
1 I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
Lover
2 As a lily amongst thorns,
so is my love amongst the daughters.
Beloved
3 As the apple tree amongst the trees of the wood,
so is my beloved amongst the sons.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight,
his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He brought me to the banquet hall.
His banner over me is love.
5 Strengthen me with raisins,
refresh me with apples;
for I am faint with love.
6 His left hand is under my head.
His right hand embraces me.
7 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
by the roes, or by the hinds of the field,
that you not stir up, nor awaken love,
until it so desires.
8 The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping on the mountains,
skipping on the hills.
9 My beloved is like a roe or a young deer.
Behold, he stands behind our wall!
He looks in at the windows.
He glances through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke, and said to me,
“Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
11 For behold, the winter is past.
The rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers appear on the earth.
The time of the singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree ripens her green figs.
The vines are in blossom.
They give out their fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.”
Lover
14 My dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding places of the mountainside,
let me see your face.
Let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.
15 Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes that plunder the vineyards;
for our vineyards are in blossom.
Beloved
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his.
He browses amongst the lilies.
17 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away,
turn, my beloved,
and be like a roe or a young deer on the mountains of Bether.
3
1 By night on my bed,
I sought him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
2 I will get up now, and go about the city;
in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
3 The watchmen who go about the city found me;
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 I had scarcely passed from them,
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go,
until I had brought him into my mother’s house,
into the room of her who conceived me.
5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
by the roes, or by the hinds of the field,
that you not stir up nor awaken love,
until it so desires.
6 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
with all spices of the merchant?
7 Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage!
Sixty mighty men are around it,
of the mighty men of Israel.
8 They all handle the sword, and are expert in war.
Every man has his sword on his thigh,
because of fear in the night.
9 King Solomon made himself a carriage
of the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its pillars of silver,
its bottom of gold, its seat of purple,
the middle of it being paved with love,
from the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother has crowned him,
in the day of his weddings,
in the day of the gladness of his heart.
4
Lover
1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love.
Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.
Your hair is as a flock of goats,
that descend from Mount Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock,
which have come up from the washing,
where every one of them has twins.
None is bereaved amongst them.
3 Your lips
