Day 16 The Wisdom Books in a Month

Ecclesiastes 9

1 [I saw] that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: yea, there is no man that knows either love or hatred, [though] all are before their face. 2 Vanity is in all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good, and to the bad; both to the pure, and to the impure; both to him that sacrifices, and to him that sacrifices not: as is the good, so is the sinner: as is the swearer, even so is he that fears an oath. 3 There is this evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yea, the heart of the sons of men is filled with evil, and madness is in their heart during their life, and after that [they go] to the dead. 4 For who is he that has fellowship with all the living? there is hope [of him]: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living will know that they shall die: but the dead know nothing, and there is no longer any reward to them; for their memory is lost. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, have now perished; yea, there is no portion for them any more for ever in all that is done under the sun. 7 Go, eat thy bread with mirth, and drink thy wine with a joyful heart; for now God has favourably accepted thy works. 8 Let thy garments be always white; and let not oil be wanting on thine head. 9 And see life with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which are given thee under the sun: for that is thy portion in thy life, and in thy labour wherein thou labourest under the sun. 10 Whatsoever thine hand shall find to do, do with all thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Hades whither thou goest. 11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor yet wealth to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of knowledge; for time and chance will happen to them all. 12 For surely man also knows not his time: as fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as birds that are caught in a snare; even thus the sons of men are snared at an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them. 13 This I also saw [to be] wisdom under the sun, and it is great before me: 14 [suppose there were] a little city, and few men in it; and there should come against it a great king, and surround it, and build great mounds against it; 15 and should find in it a poor wise man, and he should save the city through his wisdom: yet no man would remember that poor man. 16 And I said, Wisdom is better than power: yet the wisdom of the poor man is set at nought, and his words not listened to. 17 The words of the wise are heard in quiet more than the cry of them that rule in folly. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: and one sinner will destroy much good.

Ecclesiastes 10

1 Pestilent flies will corrupt a preparation of sweet ointment: [and] a little wisdom is more precious than great glory of folly. 2 A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. 3 Yea, and whenever a fool walks by the way, his heart will fail him, and all that he thinks of is folly. 4 If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for soothing will put an end to great offences. 5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, wherein an error has proceeded from the ruler. 6 The fool has been set in very high places, while rich men would sit in a low one. 7 I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants on the earth. 8 He that digs a pit shall fall into it; and him that breaks down a hedge a serpent shall bite. 9 He that removes stones shall be troubled thereby; he that cleaves wood shall be endangered thereby. 10 If the axe-head should fall off, then the man troubles his countenance, and he must put forth more strength: and [in that case] skill is of no advantage to a man. 11 If a serpent bite when there is no [charmer's] whisper, then there is no advantage to the charmer. 12 The words of a wise mouth are gracious: but the lips of a fool will swallow him up. 13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is folly: and the end of his talk mischievous madness. 14 A fool moreover multiplies words: man knows not what has been, nor what will be: who shall tell him what will come after him? 15 The labour of fools will afflict them, [as that of one] who knows not to go to the city. 16 Woe to thee, O city, whose king is young, and thy princes eat in the morning! 17 Blessed art thou, O land, whose king is a son of nobles, and whose princes shall eat seasonably, for strength, and shall not be ashamed. 18 By slothful neglect a building will be brought low: and by idleness of the hands the house will fall to pieces. 19 Men prepare bread for laughter, and wine and oil that the living should rejoice: but to money all things will humbly yield obedience. 20 Even in thy conscience, curse not the king; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry thy voice, and that which has wings shall report thy speech.

Ecclesiastes 11

1 Send forth thy bread upon the face of the water: for thou shalt find it after many days. 2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil there shall be upon the earth. 3 If the clouds be filled with rain, they pour [it] out upon the earth: and if a tree fall southward, or if it fall northward, in the place where the tree shall fall, there it shall be. 4 He that observes the wind sows not; and he that looks at the clouds will not reap. 5 Among whom none knows what is the way of the wind: as the bones [are hid] in the womb of a pregnant [woman], so thou shalt not know the works of God, [even] all things whatsoever he shall do. 6 In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening let not thine hand be slack: for thou knowest not what sort shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether both shall be good alike. 7 Moreover the light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun. 8 For even if a man should live many years, [and] rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity. 9 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 blameless, but not in the sight of thine eyes: yet know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 10 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for youth and folly are vanity.

Ecclesiastes 12

1 And remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the days of evil come, and the years overtake [thee] in which thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. 2 While the sun and light are not darkened, nor the moon and the stars; nor the clouds return after the rain: 3 in the day wherein the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the mighty men shall become bent, and the grinding [women] cease because they have become few, and the [women] looking out at the windows be dark; 4 and they shall shut the doors in the market-place, because of the weakness of the voice of her that grinds [at the mill]; and he shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, and all the daughters of song shall be brought low; 5 and they shall look up, and fears [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the locust shall increase, and the caper shall be scattered: because man has gone to his eternal home, and the mourners have gone about the market: 6 before the silver cord be [let go], or the choice gold be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel run down to the cistern; 7 [before] the dust also return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher; all is vanity. 9 And because the Preacher was wise above [others, so it was] that he taught man excellent knowledge, and the ear will trace out the parables. 10 The Preacher sought diligently to find out acceptable words, and a correct writing, [even] words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails firmly fastened, which have been given from one shepherd by agreement. 12 And moreover, my son, guard thyself by means of them: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. 13 Hear the end of the matter, the sum: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole man. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with everything that has been overlooked, whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil.

Song of Songs 1

1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon's. 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy breasts are better than wine. 3 And the smell of thine ointments is better than all spices: thy name is ointment poured forth; therefore do the young maidens love thee. 4 They have drawn thee: we will run after thee, for the smell of thine ointments: the king has brought me into his closet: let us rejoice and be glad in thee; we will love thy breasts more than wine: righteousness loves thee. 5 I am black, but beautiful, ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 6 Look not upon me, because I am dark, because the sun has looked unfavourably upon me: my mother's sons strove with me; they made me keeper in the vineyards; I have not kept my own vineyard. 7 Tell me, [thou] whom my soul loves, where thou tendest thy flock, where thou causest [them] to rest at noon, lest I become as one that is veiled by the flocks of thy companions. 8 If thou know not thyself, thou fair one among women, go thou forth by the footsteps of the flocks, and feed thy kids by the shepherds' tents. 9 I have likened thee, my companion, to my horses in the chariots of Pharao. 10 How are thy cheeks beautiful as [those] of a dove, thy neck as chains! 11 We will make thee figures of gold with studs of silver. 12 So long as the king was at table, my spikenard gave forth its smell. 13 My kinsman is to me a bundle of myrrh; he shall lie between my breasts. 14 My kinsman is to me a cluster of camphor in the vineyards of Engaddi. 15 Behold, thou art fair, my companion; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are doves. 16 Behold, thou art fair, my kinsman, yea, beautiful, overshadowing our bed. 17 The beams of our house are cedars, our ceilings are of cypress.