The words of a talebearer are tasty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.

When he speaks graciously, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.

A lying tongue hates those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth works ruin.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.

A continual dripping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.

Sheol and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

For riches are not forever: and does the crown endure to every generation?

The hay appears, and the tender grass shows itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.

The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are for the price of the field.

The wicked flee when no man pursues: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge its state shall be prolonged.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked bears rule, the people mourn.

If a ruler hearkens to lies, all his servants are wicked.

When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increases: but the righteous shall see their fall.

There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness.

There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

The leach has two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:

There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:

There are four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:

The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;

The badgers are but a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks;

There are three things which are stately in stride, yea, four are stately in their walk:

Open your mouth for the dumb, for the cause of all who are left desolate.

She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

All things are full of weariness; man cannot express it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this severe burden has God given to the sons of man to be afflicted with.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and like grasping the wind.

The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one fate happens to them all.

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart takes not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

I said in my heart concerning the condition of the sons of men, that God might reveal them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.

For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also many vanities: but you fear God.

If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of justice and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter: for the high official is watched by a higher one; and there are yet higher ones over them.

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: so what good is there to the owners, except the beholding of them with their eyes?

But those riches are lost by a bad venture: when he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.

If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also that he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn birth is better than he.

Since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better?

Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men who are in the city.

Also take not to heart all words that are spoken; lest you hear your servant curse you:

And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands are fetters: whosoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What are you doing?

There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death: and there is no release from that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, who fear before him:

But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he fears not before God.

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are just men, unto whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men, to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knows either love or hatred by all that is before them.

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

For man also knows not his time: as the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.

Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that rules among fools.

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

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall be.

Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

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 of the windows grow dim,

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors are in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets:

The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails firmly fixed by the masters of assemblies, which are given by one shepherd.

Your cheeks are lovely with rows of jewels, your neck with chains of gold.

Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair; you have doves' eyes.

Behold, you are handsome, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.

The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

Behold the couch, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair; you have doves' eyes behind your veil: your hair is like a flock of goats, going down from mount Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; every one of which bears twins, and none is barren among them.

Your lips are like a thread of scarlet, and your mouth is lovely: your temples are like a piece of pomegranate behind your veil.

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

You are all fair, my love; there is no spot in you.

Your lips, O my spouse, drop like the honeycomb: honey and milk are under your tongue; and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; henna, with spikenard,

His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are wavy, and black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

His cheeks are like a bed of spices, like sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dripping sweet smelling myrrh.

His arms are as rounded gold set with beryl: his body is as carved ivory overlaid with sapphires.

His legs are pillars of marble, set upon bases of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.

Your teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, every one bears twins, and there is not one barren among them.

As a piece of a pomegranate are your temples behind your veil.

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince's daughter! the curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful craftsman.

Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a gazelle.

How fair and how pleasant are you, O love, for your delights!

Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened, and the pomegranates are in bloom: there will I give you my loves.

The mandrakes give a fragrance, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm: for love is as strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame.

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a descendant of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they have turned away backward.

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing them.

And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land:

Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come before them.

Therefore you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they make bargains with the children of aliens.

And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,