The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh through a fence, a serpent shall bite him.

Whoso quarrieth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood is endangered thereby.

If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength; but wisdom is profitable to direct.

If the serpent bite before it is charmed, then the charmer hath no advantage.

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is grievous madness.

A fool also multiplieth words; yet man knoweth not what shall be; and that which shall be after him, who can tell him?

The labour of fools wearieth every one of them, for he knoweth not how to go to the city.

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a boy, and thy princes feast in the morning!

Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is a free man, and thy princes eat in due season, in strength, and not in drunkenness!

By slothfulness the rafters sink in; and through idleness of the hands the house leaketh.

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh glad the life; and money answereth all things.

Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought, and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber; for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.

Divide a portion into seven, yea, even into eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; and if a tree fall in the south, or in the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there shall it be.

He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the work of God who doeth all things.

In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

And the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.

For if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

Therefore remove vexation from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for childhood and youth are vanity.

Remember then thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say: 'I have no pleasure in them';

Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;

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 that look out shall be darkened in the windows,

And the doors shall be shut in the street, when the sound of the grinding is low; and one shall start up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors shall be in the way; and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall drag itself along, and the caperberry shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets;

Before the silver cord is snapped asunder, and the golden bowl is shattered, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel falleth shattered, into the pit;

And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.

Vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth; all is vanity.

And besides that Koheleth was wise, he also taught the people knowledge; yea, he pondered, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.

Koheleth sought to find out words of delight, and that which was written uprightly, even words of truth.

The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails well fastened are those that are composed in collections; they are given from one shepherd.

And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter, all having been heard: fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole man.

For God shall bring every work into the judgment concerning every hidden thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.

THE SONG of songs, which is Solomon's.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth — for thy love is better than wine.

Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; thy name is as ointment poured forth; therefore do the maidens love thee.

Draw me, we will run after thee; the king hath brought me into his chambers; we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will find thy love more fragrant than wine! sincerely do they love thee.

'I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

Look not upon me, that I am swarthy, that the sun hath tanned me; my mother's sons were incensed against me, they made me keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.'

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon; for why should I be as one that veileth herself beside the flocks of thy companions?

If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids, beside the shepherds' tents.

I have compared thee, O my love, to a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.

Thy cheeks are comely with circlets, thy neck with beads.

We will make thee circlets of gold with studs of silver.

While the king sat at his table, my spikenard sent forth its fragrance.

My beloved is unto me as a bag of myrrh, that lieth betwixt my breasts.

My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna in the vineyards of En-gedi.

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves.

Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant; also our couch is leafy.

The beams of our houses are cedars, and our panels are cypresses.

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

As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

As an apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. Under its shadow I delighted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my taste.

He hath brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me is love.

'Stay ye me with dainties, refresh me with apples; for I am love-sick.'

Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me.

'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.'

Hark! my beloved! behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh in through the windows, he peereth through the lattice.

My beloved spoke, and said unto me: 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.'

'Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom.'

My beloved is mine, and I am his, that feedeth among the lilies.

Until the day breathe, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, but I found him not.

'I will rise now, and go about the city, in the streets and in the broad ways, I will seek him whom my soul loveth.' I sought him, but I found him not.

The watchmen that go about the city found me: 'Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?'

Scarce had I passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.'

Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

Behold, it is the litter of Solomon; threescore mighty men are about it, of the mighty men of Israel.

They all handle the sword, and are expert in war; every man hath his sword upon his thigh, because of dread in the night.

King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon.

He made the pillars thereof of silver, the top thereof of gold, the seat of it of purple, the inside thereof being inlaid with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.

Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and gaze upon king Solomon, even upon the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil; thy hair is as a flock of goats, that trail down from mount Gilead.

Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes all shaped alike, which are come up from the washing; whereof all are paired, and none faileth among them.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy mouth is comely; thy temples are like a pomegranate split open behind thy veil.

Thy neck is like the tower of David builded with turrets, whereon there hang a thousand shields, all the armour of the mighty men.

Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies.

Until the day breathe, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

Thou art all fair, my love; and there is no spot in thee.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon; look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one bead of thy necklace.

How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all manner of spices!

Thy lips, O my bride, drop honey — honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Thy shoots are a park of pomegranates, with precious fruits; henna with spikenard plants,

Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

Thou art a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his precious fruits.

I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.