“May he kiss me with kisses of his mouth,

For your love is better than wine.

At the fragrance of your good oils,

Your name is as oil poured out,

Which is why the virgins love you.

Draw me after you; we will run away.

The king has brought me to his rooms.”

“We will rejoice and be glad with you;

We will remember your love more than wine.

Those who are upright love you.”

“I am swarthy and comely,

You daughters of Jerusalem,

Like the tents of Kedar,

Like Solomon's curtains.

Do not look at me, because I am swarthy

– Because the sun has given me a tan.

The sons of my mother have become angry with me.

They appointed me as a guardian of their vineyards;

I have not guarded my own vineyard.

Tell me, you whom my being loves,

Where are you tending your flock?

Where do you make them lie down at noon?

For why should I be languishing

Alongside the flocks of your fellow shepherds?”

“If you do not know,

O most beautiful among women,

Then go out along the tracks of the flock

And tend your goat-kids

By the tabernacles of the shepherds.”

“I have compared you to my mare

Among Pharaoh's chariots, my beloved.

How beautiful would be your cheeks

With rows of beads,

And your neck with strings of pearls!

We will make you rows of golden beads

With studs of silver.”

“While the king is on his couch,

My spikenard emits its fragrance.

My lover is a bundle of myrrh to me.

He shall pass the night between my breasts.

My lover is a bunch of henna flowers to me,

In the vineyards of En-Gedi.”

“Behold how beautiful you are, my beloved;

Behold how beautiful you are

With your eyes of a dove.”

“Behold how handsome you are my lover

– Indeed delightful –

Moreover our couch is fresh.”

“The joists of our house are cedars,

And our wainscoting is of cypress.”

“I am a lily of Sharon

And a lily of the valley.”

“Like a lily among the brambles,

So is my beloved among the daughters.”

“Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

So is my lover among the sons.

In his shadow I delight and sit,

And his fruit is sweet to my taste.

He brought me to the house of wine,

And the ensign over me was love.

Sustain me with raisin cake,

Refresh me with apples,

For I am lovesick.

His left hand will be under my head,

And his right hand will embrace me.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the wild gazelles and deer hinds,

Do not by any means awaken or arouse love,

Until it is willing.

The voice of my lover

– Behold, he is coming –

Leaping over the mountains

And bounding over the hills.

My lover is like a gazelle or a deer fawn.

See how he is standing behind our wall,

Gazing from the windows,

Glancing from the grille.

My lover answered and said to me,

‘Get yourself up, my beloved, my beauty,

And get going.

For behold, the winter has passed,

The rain has passed on

And gone its way.

The blossoms have appeared in the land,

The time of pruning has arrived,

And the sound of the turtle-dove

Is heard in our land.

The fig tree has ripened its unripe figs,

And the vines with vine blossom have produced a fragrance.

{K: Arise, come} [Q: Arise, will you,] my beloved, my beauty,

And get moving.

O dove of mine in the clefts of the rock,

In the shelter of the precipice,

Show me what you look like,

And let me hear your voice,

For your voice is mellow

And your appearance is becoming.’

‘Catch the foxes for us,

The little foxes which spoil the vineyards,

For our vineyards are in blossom.’

My lover is mine,

And I am his

– The shepherd among the lilies.

Before the day grows cool,

And the shadows flee,

Return, my beloved;

Be like a gazelle or a deer fawn

On the mountains of Bether.

On my couch at night I sought him

Whom my whole being loves;

I sought him,

But I did not find him.

Let me get up, then,

And I will go around the city;

In the squares and the streets,

I will seek him

Whom my whole being loves.

I sought him,

But I did not find him.

The watchmen who patrol the city found me.

I asked, ‘Have you seen the one

Whom my whole being loves?’

I had hardly passed on from them

When I found him

Whom my whole being loves.

I held on to him

And would not let him go

Until I had brought him to my mother's house,

And to the room of her who conceived me.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the wild gazelles and deer hinds,

Do not by any means awaken or arouse love,

Until it is willing.”

“Who is this coming up from the desert,

Like pillars of smoke,

Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,

With all the aromatic powder of the merchant?”

“Behold Solomon's bed.

There are sixty warriors around it

From the warriors of Israel.

They are all wielding a sword

And are trained in warfare.

Each has his sword on his thigh

Because of fear at night.”

“King Solomon has made himself a litter

From the wood of Lebanon.

He made its posts of silver

And its backing of gold

And its seat of purple material.

Its inside is a mosaic of love themes

From the daughters of Jerusalem.”

“Come out, O daughters of Zion,

And look at King Solomon,

With the crown with which his mother crowned him

On his wedding day,

And on the day of joy in his heart.”

“How beautiful you are, my beloved,

How beautiful you are!

Your eyes are those of doves through your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

Which shine from Mount Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock

Which has been shorn,

Which has come up from the washing place,

Which are all paired

And among which none is bereft of young.

Your lips are like a scarlet thread,

And your speech is delightful.

Your cheek is like the segment of a pomegranate

Through your veil.

Your neck is like the Tower of David,

Built as an armoury.

A thousand bucklers hang from it

– All the shields of warriors.

Your two breasts are like two deer fawn twins

Of the gazelle hind,

Grazing among the lilies.”

“Before the day grows cool,

And the shadows flee,

I will betake myself

To the mountain of myrrh

And to the hill of frankincense.”

“You are beautiful all over, my beloved,

And there is no blemish on you.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,

With me from Lebanon.

Look from the peak of Amana,

From the peak of Senir and Hermon,

From the dens of lions

And from the mountains of leopards.

You have given me heart, my sister, my bride,

You have given me heart

With one of your eyes,

With one necklace of your necklace stack.

How beautiful your love is, my sister, my bride!

How your love is better than wine,

And the fragrance of your oils than all the perfumes!

Your lips distil honey from the honeycomb, my bride.

Honey and milk are under your tongue,

And the fragrance of your clothes

Is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

My sister – my bride – is a locked garden,

A blocked spring, a sealed water-source.

Your shoots are a park of pomegranates,

With exquisite fruit,

Henna flowers with spikenard plants,

Spikenard and saffron,

Sweet cane and cinnamon,

With all kinds of frankincense trees,

Myrrh and aloes,

With all the prime sorts of perfumes,

A source for gardens,

A well of living water,

And distillations from Lebanon.

Awake, O North,

And come, O South,

Blow on my garden and let its perfumes distil.”

“Let my lover come to his garden,

And eat its exquisite fruit.”

“I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride;

I have gathered my myrrh with my perfume,

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,

I have drunk my wine with my milk.”

“Eat, friends,

Drink, and imbibe strong drink,

You lovers.”

“I was asleep,

But my heart was awake;

The voice of my lover was knocking,

‘Open to me, my sister,

My beloved, my dove, my undefiled,

For my head is full of dew,

As are my locks of hair

With dewdrops of the night.

I have taken my tunic off;

How can I put it on again?

I have washed my feet;

How can I soil them again?’

My lover stretched out his hand by the lock hole,

And I was moved inwardly because of him.

I arose to open to my lover,

And my hands exuded drops of myrrh,

And my fingers liquid myrrh

On the handles of the lock.

I opened to my lover,

But my lover withdrew and vanished.

My heart went out to him when he spoke.

I sought him,

But I did not find him;

I called to him,

But he did not answer me.

The watchmen who patrol in the city found me.

They struck me, they wounded me;

The guardians of the walls lifted my veil off me.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

If you find my lover,

That you tell him

That I am lovesick.”

“In what way is your lover different

From any other lover,

O beautiful one among women?

In what way is your lover different

From any other lover,

That you should adjure us like this?”

“My lover is bright and red,

Conspicuous among ten thousand.

His head is pure gold;

His locks of hair are swaying palm fronds,

And they are black like a raven.

His eyes are like a dove's

By the torrents of water

– Eyes washed in milk,

Set like a gemstone in a bezel.

His cheeks are like a raised garden of balsam plants

– Raised beds of aromatic herbs;

His lips are like lilies,

Exuding liquid myrrh.

His forearms are cylinders of gold

Set with Tarshish gemstones;

His midriff is polished ivory,

Covered with sapphires.

His legs are pillars of marble,

Founded on socles of pure gold.

His appearance is as Lebanon;

He is a young man like the cedars.

His mouth is most sweet.

And all of him is most desirable.

This is my lover

And this is my beloved,

O daughters of Jerusalem.”

“Where has your lover gone,

O most beautiful among women?

Which way has your lover turned?

Then let us look for him with you.”

“My lover went down to his garden,

To the raised beds of balsam

To graze in the gardens

And to gather lilies.

I belong to my lover,

And my lover belongs to me,

The one grazing among the lilies.”

“You are beautiful, my beloved, like Tirzah,

As delightful as Jerusalem,

As awe-inspiring as a display of banners.

Turn your eyes away from me,

For they have excited me.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

Which shine from Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

Which have come up from the washing-place,

Which are all paired,

And among which none is bereft of young.

Your cheek is like the segment of a pomegranate

Through your veil.

There are sixty queens and eighty mistresses,

And virgins without number.

But there is just one of my dove,

My undefiled.

She is the only one of her mother's;

She is the favourite of her who bore her.

The daughters saw her and blessed her,

And the queens and mistresses praised her

And said,

‘Who is this peeping out like the dawn,

As beautiful as the moon,

As clear as the sun,

As awesome as a display of banners?’ ”

“I went down to the nut garden

To see the plant life of the valley,

To see if the vine was blossoming

– If the pomegranates were blooming.

I don't know how I landed myself

In the chariots of my noble people.”

“Come back, come back, O Shulamite, come back.

Come back, and let us look at you.”

“What do you see in the Shulamite?”

“You are like the dance of Mahanaim.

How beautiful your feet are in your shoes,

O daughter of a noble.

Your figure at your thighs is like necklaces

– Craftsmanship in the hands of an artisan.

Your navel is like a round bowl;

Let it not lack spiced wine.

Your stomach is a pile of wheat

Enclosed by lilies.

Your two breasts are like two deer fawn

– Twins of the gazelle hind.

Your neck is like a tower of ivory.

Your eyes are pools in Heshbon

At the Gate of Bath-Rabbim.

Your nose is like the Tower of Lebanon,

Which looks out towards Damascus.

Your head rests on you like Carmel,

And the locks of your head are like purple material;

The king is captivated by the shocks of hair.

How beautiful you are and how delightful you are,

O love among the pleasures!

This stature of yours is like a date palm,

And your breasts are like bunches of grapes.

I said, ‘I will go up to the date palm;

I will take hold of its palm-branches.’

And now may your breasts become like bunches of grapes of the vine,

And the smell of your nose like apples.

And your mouth is like good wine

Going straight to my beloved,

Flowing past the lips of the sleepy.”

“I am my lover's,

And his desire is for me.

Come, my lover, let us go out into the countryside;

Let us lodge in the villages.

Let us get up early to go to the vineyards;

Let us see whether the vine is blossoming,

Whether the vine blossom has opened,

Whether the pomegranates have flourished.

There I will give you my love.

The mandrakes give a fragrance,

And at our gates are all kinds of exquisite fruit,

Both new and old, my lover,

Which I have stowed away for you.

If only you were as my brother,

Who sucked my mother's breasts.

I would find you outdoors;

I would kiss you,

And I would not be despised.

I would lead you

And bring you to my mother's house.

She would teach me.

I would give you some spiced wine to drink

Made from my pomegranate must.

Let his left hand be under my head,

And his right hand embrace me.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

Why awaken or why arouse love

Before it is willing?”

“Who is this coming up from the desert,

Leaning on her lover?”

“I aroused you under the apple tree.

Your mother bore you there.

She who gave birth to you

Bore you there.

Place me like a seal on your heart,

Like a seal on your arm,

For love is as strong as death

And jealousy is as harsh as the grave;

Its flames are fiery flames

– An intense blaze.

Even much water cannot quench love,

Nor can rivers wash it away.

If a man were to give all the wealth of his household for love,

It would be utterly contemptible of him.”

“We have a little sister,

Who does not yet have breasts.

What should we do with our sister

On the day when she is proposed to?”

“If she is a wall,

We will build silver castellations on her.

And if she is a door,

We will enclose her with panels of cedar.”

“I am a wall,

And my breasts are like towers.

Then I was the one

Who found peace in his sight.

Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-Hamon.

He let the vineyard out to tenants.

Each one was to bring one thousand pieces of silver

For his fruit.

My own vineyard is in front of me.

You can have your thousand, Solomon,

And you who keep its fruit, your two hundred.”

“You garden-dweller,

My companions can hear your voice.

Let me hear it too.”

“Hasten, my lover,

And be like a gazelle or a fawn of the deer

On the mountains of balsam.”

“Vanity of vanities,”

Says the convener,

“Vanity of vanities;

All is vanity.

What is the benefit to a man

Of all his toil which he toils at

Under the sun?

A generation goes and a generation comes,

But the world stands age-abidingly.

And the sun rises, and the sun sets,

Then it draws towards its place

Where it rises again.

It goes to the south, and it turns to the north;

Turning and turning, the wind goes,

And by its round trips

The wind returns.

All the streams go to the sea,

But the sea is not full.

To the place where the streams flow,

There they return to flow again.

Everything is wearisome;

No-one can utter it.

The eye is not satisfied with seeing,

And the ear is not filled with hearing.

What has been is what will be,

And what has been done is what will be done,

And there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which it can be said,

‘Look, this is new’?

It was already in existence in ancient times

– Something which existed before us.

There is no remembrance of the former things,

Nor will there be any remembrance of the latter things which will be,

With those who will be in existence

In the latter time.

That which is crooked

Cannot be made straight,

And that which is lacking

Cannot be counted.

For in much wisdom there is much annoyance,

And he who increases knowledge

Increases sorrow.

And I did not deny my eyes anything they asked for;

I did not refuse my heart any pleasure,

For my heart obtained joy from all my toil,

And this was my portion of all my toil.

And I turned to all my works

Which my hands had made,

And to the toil which I had toiled at by working,

And behold, it was all vanity and idle pursuit,

And there was no benefit under the sun.

And I turned to look into wisdom,

And folly and foolishness,

For what will the man who comes after the king do?

Something that they have already done.

And I saw that wisdom has more benefit than foolishness,

As light has more benefit than darkness.

The wise man has his eyes in his head,

But the fool walks in darkness.

And I myself know that one event

Takes place with all of them.

And I said in my heart,

‘As is the event with the fool,

So it will happen to me too.

So why then should I become wiser still?’

And I concluded

That this too was vanity.

For there is no age-abiding remembrance of the wise

Any more than of the fool,

In that the days are already coming

When everything will be forgotten.

And how will the wise man die?

With the fool.

There is a time for everything,

And a season for every concern under heaven.

A time to bear children,

And a time to die;

A time to plant,

And a time to uproot that which has been planted;

A time to kill,

And a time to heal;

A time to demolish,

And a time to build;

A time to weep,

And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn,

And a time to dance;

A time to throw stones,

And a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace,

And a time to be far from embracing;

A time to demand,

And a time to forego;

A time to keep,

And a time to throw away;

A time to tear,

And a time to sew;

A time to be silent,

And a time to speak;

A time to love,

And a time to hate;

A time for war,

And a time for peace.

That which has been is still here,

And that which is to be has already been.

And God demands an account

Of what has been pursued.

In the place of justice,

There there was wickedness,

And in the place of righteousness,

There there was wickedness.

‘God will judge the righteous and the wicked.

For there is a time for every concern,

And then for every work.’

And what I saw was the tear of the oppressed,

Who have no comforter,

While from the hand of those who oppress them comes force.

And they have no comforter.

Then I praised the dead,

Who have already died,

More than the living,

Who are still alive.

Yet better than both is he

Who has not yet come into being,

Who has not seen the wicked work

Which has been done under the sun.

The fool folds his arms

And eats his own flesh.

A handful in quiet is better

Than two fistfuls in toil and idle pursuit.

There is a certain man,

And there is no-one in his company,

Neither does he have son or brother,

And there is no end to all his toil,

Nor is his eye satisfied with riches.

And he says, ‘For whom do I toil,

And deprive myself of goodness?’

This too is vanity,

And it is a bad state of affairs.

Two are better than one,

In that they have good wages for their toil.

For if they fall,

One will get his colleague up.

But alas for one on his own who falls

When there is no other to get him up.

Also if two lie down together

Then they have warmth.

But how will one on his own

Become warm?

If anyone would overpower the one,

Two will stand against him.

And a triple thread

Is not quickly broken.

It is better to be a poor but wise child

Than an old and foolish king

Who no longer knows how to receive admonition.

For he comes out of prison to reign,

But also in his kingdom

A poor man is born.

I have seen all who are alive,

Walking under the sun,

With the heir apparent

Who will succeed him.

There is no end to all the people

– To all who were before them –

Neither will the latter ones rejoice in him,

For this too is vanity and idle pursuit.

Do not be rash with your mouth,

And do not let your heart be hasty in uttering a word in God's presence,

For God is in heaven,

But you are on the earth,

So let your words be few.

For a dream comes with much to occupy one,

But the voice of the fool

Comes with many words.

When you make a vow to God,

Do not be late in fulfilling it,

For there is no pleasure in fools.

What you have vowed, fulfil!

It is better for you not to make a vow

Than to vow but not fulfil.

He who loves money

Will never be satisfied with money,

Nor will he who loves wealth be satisfied with profit.

This too is vanity.

With an increase in good things

Comes an increase in those that eat them,

So what is the advantage to their owner

Except a sight for his eyes?

The workman's sleep is sweet

Whether he eats little or much,

But the abundance of the rich man

Does not permit him to sleep.

There is a grievous injustice

That I have seen under the sun:

Riches kept by their owner

To his detriment.

Then those riches are lost

In a calamitous affair,

And he begets a son

But has nothing in his hand.

As when he came out of his mother's womb

– Naked – so he will return,

Going as he came,

And he will not take any of his toil with him

Which he might take in his hand.

And this too is a grievous injustice:

In exactly the same way that he comes, so he goes.

So what benefit does he have

By toiling for the wind?

Moreover all his days he eats in darkness

And is much grieved

And is sick and angry.

All man's toil is for his mouth,

But his heart is nevertheless not fulfilled.

For what does a wise man have

More than a fool?

And what advantage does a poor man have,

Knowing how to walk before the living?

A sight seen by the eyes is better

Than a wandering mind.

This too is vanity and idle pursuit.

What has taken place

Has already been called by its name.

And it is known that it is Adam,

And that he cannot contend

With him who is more powerful than he.

For there are many things that increase vanity,

But what is the advantage to man?

A reputation is better than fine oil,

And the day of death than the day of one's birth.

It is better to go to the house of mourning

Than to go to a house of banqueting,

For that is the end of every man.

And may he who is alive lay it to his heart.

Grief is better than laughter,

For in a sad expression the heart is benefited.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

Whereas the heart of fools

Is in the house of rejoicing.

It is better to hear the rebuke of a wise man

Than for a man to hear the song of fools.

For as is the sound of the thorns under the pot,

So is the laughter of the fool.

And this too is vanity.

For unjust gain shames the wise,

And a bribe makes the heart stray.

The end of a matter is better than its beginning,

And longsuffering is better than arrogance.

Do not be quick in your spirit to become angry,

For anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

Do not say, ‘What has taken place?

Because the first days were better than these’,

For you would not be asking wisely about this.

Wisdom with an inheritance is good,

And is advantageous to those who see the sun.

For one may be under the protection of wisdom,

Or under the protection of money,

But the advantage of knowledge

Is that wisdom gives life to its owners.

Look at the work of God,

For who can straighten

That which he has made bent?

On a day of prosperity, enjoy the success,

But on a day of adversity, observe:

God has made both one thing and another

In order that man should not find out

About anything coming after him.

I have seen everything in my vain days.

There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness,

And there is a wicked man

Who lives a long time in his wickedness.

Do not be over-righteous,

And do not make yourself too wise.

Why should you destroy yourself?

Do not do much wrong,

And do not be foolish.

Why should you die

When it is not your time?

It is good if you hold on to this,

And do not let your hands drop this either,

For he who fears God

Will leave with everyone else.

Wisdom will strengthen the wise man

More than ten rulers

Who are in the city.

For there is not a just man on the earth

Who does good and does not sin.

Moreover do not concern yourself

With all the words spoken,

So that you do not hear

Your servant cursing you.

For also your heart knows

That you have also cursed others

Many times.

I have tested all this with wisdom.

I said, ‘I will be wise’,

But it was far from me.

Who can find what is distant

And very deep?

Then I applied my heart

To know and to investigate and to seek wisdom,

And an explanation of things,

And to know the wickedness of foolhardiness,

And foolishness and folly.

And I found more bitter than death

The woman who is out to catch,

And whose heart is set on enticements,

Whose hands are bonds.

It is good in God's sight that one should escape from her,

But the sinner will be caught by her.

‘See what I have found’,

Says the convener,

‘Putting one thing and another together

To find the result.’

So my mind is still seeking

And I have not found it.

I have found one man in a thousand,

But I have not found such a woman among all these.

Just look at this that I have found,

That God made man upright,

Yet they seek all sorts of schemes.

Who is like the wise man?

And who knows the interpretation of a matter?

A man's wisdom enlightens his face,

And the harshness of his face is changed.”

Where the word of the king is,

There is authority.

And who will say to him,

‘What are you doing?’

He who keeps the commandment

Will not experience any harmful thing,

And a wise heart will know

Both time and custom,

Because for every matter there is a time and a custom,

For the wickedness of man

Is heavily against him.

For he does not know what will come to pass,

For who can tell him when it will come to pass?

There is no man with power over the wind

To restrain the wind,

And no-one has power over the day of death.

And there is no leave of absence in war,

Nor will wickedness save those who practise it.

As for the good,

So for the sinner,

As for him who swears an oath,

So for him who fears an oath.

A living dog is better than a dead lion.

Yet the living know that they will die,

But the dead don't know anything,

Nor do they have a reward any more,

For memory of them is forgotten.

Also their love and their hatred

And their jealousy have already passed away.

And they age-abidingly no longer have a portion

In anything that has been done under the sun.

Go and eat your bread with joy,

And drink your wine with a merry heart,

For God has already accepted your works.

Let your clothes be white at all times,

And let not oil be lacking on your head.

The race is not for the swift,

And war is not for the valiant,

Nor is bread for the wise,

Nor is wealth for the prudent,

Nor is grace for those who have knowledge,

For an occasion and an incident befall them all.

For man does not know his time either;

He is like a fish caught in a nasty net,

Or like birds caught in a snare.

The sons of Adam are ensnared like them,

In an evil hour,

When it suddenly falls on them.

“Wisdom is better than valour,

But the wisdom of the poor man is despised,

And his words are not heard.

The words of the wise are heard in quiet

More than the shout of a ruler among fools.

Wisdom is better than equipment for battle,

But one sinner can ruin much good.

As deadly flies make the pharmacist's oil stink and go putrid,

So does a little foolishness with him who is esteemed with wisdom and with honour.

The heart of a wise man

Is on his right,

But the heart of a fool

Is on his left.

And also when {Q: a fool} [K: the fool] is walking along a road,

His heart fails him,

And he says to everyone

That he is a fool.

If the spirit of the ruler rises against you,

Do not leave your place,

For calmness bears with great sins.

There is an evil thing which I have seen under the sun:

A sin through ignorance

Which proceeds from the ruler.

Foolishness is instituted in many high places,

But the rich will sit in a low place.

I have seen servants on horses,

And princes walking like servants on the ground.

He who digs a pit will fall into it,

And as for him who demolishes a wall,

A serpent will bite him.

He who quarries stones

Will be hurt by them,

And he who chops wood

Will be endangered by it.

If the iron implement is blunt,

And he does not sharpen its edge,

Then he must use more force.

But wisdom has the benefit of bringing success.

If a serpent bites,

It is because it has not been charmed,

So the talkative man has nothing illustrious.

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious,

But the lips of a fool will swallow him up.

The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness,

And the end of his speech is calamitous folly.

And the fool is very talkative.

But man does not know what will come to pass,

And who can tell him

What will come to pass after him?

The fool's toil will weary him

Because he does not know how to go to the city.

Woe to you, O land,

Where your king is a boy,

And your princes dine in the morning.

Blessed are you, O land,

Where your king is a nobleman,

And your princes eat in season,

In valour and not in drinking.

Through slackness the rafter-work decays,

And through idleness in maintenance the house leaks.

A meal is made for entertainment,

And wine makes life merry,

But money answers everything.

And do not curse the king in your mind,

And do not curse the rich in your bedrooms,

For a bird of the sky will carry your voice,

And the winged one will divulge the matter.

Cast seed for your bread alongside water,

For then after many days

You will find it.

Give a part to seven,

And also to eight,

For you do not know

What will become a calamity on the earth.

If the thick clouds are full of rain,

They will empty it on the land,

And whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,

In the place where the tree falls,

There it remains.

He who takes note of the wind will not sow,

And he who observes the clouds will not reap.

Just as you do not know the route of the wind,

Nor the way of the bones in the womb of her that is pregnant,

So you do not know the work of God,

Who makes everything.

Sow your seed in the morning,

And do not rest your hand in the evening,

Because you do not know what will give success

– This or that –

Or whether both alike will be good.

Light is sweet,

And it is also good for the eyes to see the sunlight.

For if a man lives for many years,

May he rejoice in them all,

But may he remember the days of darkness,

For they will be many.

Everything that comes is vanity.

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth,

And let your heart make you cheerful in your youthful days,

And walk in the ways of your heart

And in the sight of your eyes,

But know that concerning all these things

God will bring you into judgment.

Put away anger from your heart,

And remove evil from your flesh,

For childhood and tender age are vanity.

And remember your creator in the days of your youth,

While the bad days have not yet come,

Nor have the years arrived of which you will say,

‘I have no pleasure in them’,

While the sun has not gone dark,

Nor the light, nor the moon and the stars,

Nor have the thick clouds returned after the rain,

On the day when the guardians of the house shake,

And the strong men have become bowed,

And the grinders have become unserviceable,

Because they are few,

And the lookers out of the windows have become dark,

And the doors have closed in the street,

When the sound of the mill is low,

And one rises at the sound of a bird,

And all the daughters of song are faint,

When also they are afraid of heights,

With trepidation on the road,

And the almond tree sheds its blossom,

And the grasshopper is a burden,

And the caperberry fails,

For man goes to his age-abiding house,

And mourners circulate in the street.

For a while the silver cord is not {Q: constrained} [K: removed],

And the golden bowl is not crushed,

And the pitcher is not fractured at the fountain,

And the wheel is not broken at the cistern,

Then dust returns onto the earth,

As it was,

And the spirit returns to God

Who gave it.”

“Vanity of vanities,”

Says the convener,

“Everything is vanity.”

Fear God and keep his commandments,

For this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

With every hidden thing,

Whether good or bad.

How the city which was so populous

Remains alone and has become like a widow!

She who was great among the nations

– A princess among the states –

Has become tribute-paying.

She weeps and weeps at night,

And her tears are on her cheeks.

She has no-one comforting her among all her lovers.

All her friends have betrayed her;

They have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile

In affliction and in severe enslavement.

She dwells among the Gentiles;

She has not found rest.

All those who pursue her have caught up with her,

Putting her in straits.

The roads of Zion mourn

For want of any coming to the festival.

All her gates are desolate,

Her priests sigh,

Her virgins grieve

– And it is bitter to her.

Her adversaries have become the head,

Her enemies prosper,

For the Lord has afflicted her

Because of the large number of her transgressions.

Her young children have gone into captivity

In front of the adversary.

And all her splendour has departed from the daughter of Zion,

And her princes, who were like deer,

Did not find pasture,

And they went powerlessly in front of the pursuer.

Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and her wanderings

All her valuable objects

Which she had in the old days,

When her people fell into the hand of the adversary,

And there was no-one to help her.

The adversaries saw her

And mocked her demise.

Jerusalem has committed a sin,

Which is why she has become displaced.

All those who honoured her disparage her,

For they have seen her nakedness,

As she herself sighs and turns back.

Her uncleanness is in her skirts;

She is not mindful of her final state,

And she has plummeted astonishingly.

There is no-one comforting her.

O Lord, look at my affliction,

For the enemy has become powerful.

The adversary has spread his hand over all her valuable objects,

For she has seen how the Gentiles have entered her sanctuary,

Whereas you commanded

That they should not come into your convocation.

All her people sigh and seek bread.

They have given their desirable objects in exchange for food

To refresh themselves.

O Lord, look and see,

For I have become contemptible.

Is it not of concern to you,

All you who pass by the way?

Look and see if there is any grief like my grief

Which has been dealt out to me,

Because the Lord has afflicted me

On the day of his furious anger.

He has sent fire into my bones from above,

And it has subdued them.

He has spread a net for my feet,

He has turned me back;

He has made me desolate,

And ailing all day long.

The yoke of my transgressions has been fastened by his hand.

They are intertwined,

They have come on my neck;

He has made my strength falter.

The Lord^* has delivered me into the hands

Of those from whom I cannot get up.

The Lord^* has removed all my valiant men within my confines.

He has called an assembly against me

To crush my youths.

The Lord^* has trodden the wine press,

Which is the virgin daughter of Judah.

Over these things I weep.

My eye, my eye is running with water,

For the comforter is far from me,

Who would refresh my being.

My sons have become devastated,

For the enemy has prevailed.

Zion has spread out her hands;

She has no comforter.

The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob,

“Let his adversaries be round about him”,

And Jerusalem has become an unclean woman among them.

The Lord is righteous,

For I have rebelled against his word.

Hear now, all you nations,

And look at my grief –

My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

I called on my lovers,

But they have been treacherous to me.

My priests and my elders in the city expired

When they sought food for themselves

To revive themselves.

O Lord, see how I am in straits.

My innards are turbulent;

My heart is overturned inside me,

For I have rebelled badly.

Outside the sword has bereaved me;

Inside it is deathly.

They have heard that I am sighing

– That I have no comforter.

All my enemies have heard of my misfortune;

They rejoice because you have done this,

But you will bring about the day which you have proclaimed,

And they will become like me.

Let all their wickedness come before you,

And treat them severely as you have treated me severely

For all my transgressions.

For my sighs are many,

And my heart is ailing.

How the Lord^* has covered the daughter of Zion in darkness in his anger.

He has cast the splendour of Israel

Down from heaven to the earth.

And he did not remember his footstool

On the day of his anger.

The Lord^* has swallowed up all the settlements of Jacob

{K: And} [Q: And] has not had compassion.

In his ire he has demolished the fortifications of the daughter of Judah.

He has cast them to the ground;

He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

In his furious anger

He has cut every horn of Israel off;

He has drawn his right hand back from the presence of the enemy,

And he has burned in Jacob as if with blazing fire,

Which has consumed the land all around.

He drew his bow like an enemy;

His right hand stood like an adversary,

And he killed all who were pleasing to the eye

In the tent of the daughter of Zion.

He poured out his fury like fire.

The Lord^* was like an enemy,

He swallowed up Israel,

He swallowed up all her palaces,

He brought her fortifications to ruin,

And he increased mourning and lamentation

In the daughter of Judah.

And he did violence to his booth like a garden;

He ravaged his assembly.

The Lord has caused the assembly and the Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion,

And he has rejected king and priest

In his angry indignation.

The Lord^* has repudiated his altar;

He has abhorred his sanctuary.

He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy.

They have uttered a sound in the house of the Lord

As on a day of the assembly.

The Lord decided to bring the wall of the daughter of Zion to ruin.

He has stretched out a line;

He did not withdraw his hand from swallowing it up,

And he has brought mourning on fortification and wall

– They languish together.

Her gates have sunk into the ground;

He has wrecked and shattered her bolts.

Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles.

There is no book of the law;

Her prophets do not find any vision from the Lord either.

The elders of the daughter of Zion are sitting on the ground;

They are silent.

They have put dust on their heads,

They have girded themselves with sackcloth;

The virgins of Jerusalem have lowered their heads to the ground.

My eyes are exhausted with tears;

My innards are turbulent.

My liver is poured out on the ground

Over the devastation of the daughter of my people,

At the fainting of the child and baby

In the streets of the city.

To their mothers they say,

“Where is the corn and the wine?”

As they faint like a wounded soldier in the streets of the city,

As their life is poured out

In their mothers' bosom.

What can I testify to you?

To what can I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem?

To what can I compare you,

So as to comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion?

For your devastation is as great as the sea.

Who can heal you?

Your prophets had visions for you

Which were false and deluded,

And they did not reveal your iniquity,

Which would have restored you from your captivity,

But they have had visions for you

Of false prophecies and seductions.

All who pass by the way

Clap their hands at you.

They whistle and shake their head

At the daughter of Jerusalem,

And say, “Is this the city of which they say,

‘It is the perfection of beauty

– The joy of all the earth’?”

All your enemies gape at you;

They whistle and gnash their teeth.

They say, “We have swallowed her up.

Indeed this is the very day which we have hoped for.

We have arrived at it; we have seen it.”

The Lord has done what he devised;

He has carried out his word

Which he appointed in days of old.

He has demolished

And did not show pity.

And he has given the enemy reason to rejoice over you;

He has raised the horn of your adversaries.

Their heart cried out to the Lord^*.

O wall of the daughter of Zion,

Let tears run down like a torrent day and night,

Do not give yourself respite;

Do not let the pupil of your eye rest.

Arise, shout out in the night at the start of the watches,

Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord^*;

Lift up your hands to him for the life of your small children

Who are fainting with hunger

At the head of all the streets.

Look, O Lord, and see to whom you have done this.

Will women eat their own fruit

– Infants who are nursed?

Will priest and prophet be killed

In the sanctuary of the Lord^*?

The youth and the old man lie on the ground on the streets.

My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword.

You have killed them on the day of your anger;

You have slaughtered them

And not shown pity.

You have publicized my fears round about,

As on the day of an assembly.

But on the day of the Lord's anger

There was no-one who had escaped or survived.

Those whom I nursed and brought up,

My enemy has finished off.

I am the man who has seen affliction

By the rod of his wrath.

He has driven me and removed me

Into darkness, and not light.

Surely he has turned against me;

His hand is adverse to me all day long.

He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away;

He has shattered my bones.

He has built the case against me

And surrounded me with noxiousness and weariness.

He has made me sit in darkness,

Like the age-abidingly dead.

He has fenced me in

And I cannot go out.

He has made my fetter heavy.

Although I cry out and shout,

He shuts out my prayer.

He has blocked my ways with hewn stones;

He has overturned my paths.

He is a bear in ambush to me

– A lion in a covert place.

He has deflected me from my ways

And torn me to pieces;

He has made me desolate.

He has drawn his bow

And set me as a target for the arrow.

He has shot the contents of his quiver into my kidneys.

I have become a laughing stock to all my people,

In their song all day long.

He has filled me with bitter herbs;

He has given me wormwood to drink.

And he has crushed my teeth with gravel;

He has covered me with ash.

And you have been averse to my well-being;

I have forgotten what goodness is.

And I said, “My endurance and my hope in the Lord

Have faded away.”

Remember my affliction and wandering,

The wormwood and the venom.

Oh do remember,

And may {P: your soul} [M: my soul] sink down onto me.

I will lay this to heart;

This is why I will be in expectation:

The Lord's kind deeds are such

That we are not finished

– That his mercies have not come to an end.

The mornings bring these anew;

Great is your faithfulness.

“My portion is the Lord,”

My inner being has said,

“Which is why I will await him.”

The Lord is good to those who put their hope in him

– To the person who seeks him.

It is good to be in expectation and quiet for the Lord's salvation.

It is good for a man

That he bears his yoke in his youth.

He sits alone and is silent,

For he laid it on him.

He puts his mouth in the dust

And says,

“Perhaps there is hope.”

He gives his cheek to him who strikes him;

He is steeped in reproach.

For the Lord^* will not repudiate us age-abidingly.

Although he causes grief,

Yet he shows mercy

According to the abundance of his {K: kindness} [Q: kind deeds].

For he does not afflict wholeheartedly

Nor so grieve the sons of men.

Neither on crushing all the prisoners of the earth under one's feet,

Nor on perverting the course of justice of a man

Against the intention of the Most High,

Nor on doing violence to a man's contention

Does the Lord^* look favourably.

Who is it who spoke, and it came to pass,

If the Lord^* did not command it?

Do not bad things and good

Issue from the mouth of the Most High?

How a man who is alive complains!

– A man confronted by his {K: sin} [Q: sins].

Let us search our ways and investigate

And return to the Lord.

Let us lift up our hearts on our hands

To God in the heavens.

We have transgressed and rebelled,

And you have not forgiven us.

You have covered us with anger and pursued us;

You have killed us and not shown pity.

You have covered yourself with a cloud,

So that a prayer cannot pass through.

You have made us an offscouring

And a reject in the company of the nations.

All our enemies gape at us.

Fear and ruin are our lot

With desolation and devastation.

Streams of water run down my eye

At the devastation of the daughter of my people.

My eye is flowing and will not become quiet,

With no respite,

Until the Lord peers down

And looks from heaven.

My eye is wearing on my spiritual condition

Because of all the daughters of the city.

My enemies have relentlessly hunted me,

Gratuitously, like a bird.

They have knocked my life down into the pit,

And they have thrown stones at me.

Waters overwhelmed me above my head.

I said, “I have been cut off.”

I called on your name, O Lord,

From the lowest pit.

You have heard my voice.

Do not turn a deaf ear to relieving me at my cry.

You drew near on the day

When I called on you,

And you said,

“Do not fear.”

You, O Lord^*, have defended the indictments against my person,

You have redeemed my life.

O Lord, you have seen my oppression;

Do defend my case.

You have seen all their vengeance

– All their thoughts concerning me.

You have heard their reproach,

O Lord – all their thoughts against me.

The lips of those who rise up against me

And their meditation

Are against me all day long.

Observe their sitting down and their rising up;

I am their derisive song.

Bring retribution on them, O Lord,

According to the work of their hands.

Give them a veiled heart

– Your curse on them.

Pursue them in anger,

And destroy them,

Under the heavens of the Lord.

How gold has become dull,

And the good fine gold has changed!

The holy gemstones are poured out

At the head of all the streets.

As for the precious sons of Zion,

Who were weighed against fine gold,

How they are considered as earthen jars

– The work of the hands of the potter!

Even the jackals present a breast;

They suckle their cubs.

The daughter of my people is prey to the cruel one,

{Q: Like the ostriches} [K: For they are distressed] in the desert.

The baby's tongue cleaves to the roof of his mouth with thirst.

Children ask for bread,

But there is no-one to break any for them.

Those who used to eat delicacies

Have become desolate in the streets.

Those brought up in scarlet

Embrace the rubbish dumps.

And the punishment for the iniquity of the daughter of my people

Is greater than the punishment for the sin of Sodom,

Which was overthrown in a moment,

And no hands in it endured.

Her Nazarites were purer than snow,

They were brighter than milk,

They were redder in body than red corals;

Their features were as of a sapphire.

Their appearance has become darker than blackness,

They are not recognized in the streets;

Their skin cleaves to their bones

– It has become dry like wood.

Those who fell by the sword were better off

Than those who died of hunger,

For they bled to death when pierced,

Rather than dying for lack of the produce of the field.

The hands of compassionate women

Have cooked their own children.

They were food to them

In the devastation of the daughter of my people.

The Lord has discharged his wrath;

He has poured out his furious anger,

And he has kindled a fire in Zion,

And it has consumed its foundations.

The kings of the earth

{K: And} [Q: And] all the inhabitants of the world

Did not believe that an adversary and an enemy

Would enter the gates of Jerusalem.

Because of the sins of her prophets,

And the iniquities of her priests

Who shed the blood of the righteous

In her precincts,

They stagger along in blindness in the streets;

They are stained with blood.

In their powerlessness

They strike their clothes.

“Go away, you unclean person”,

They call out to them,

“Go away, go away. Do not touch.”

For they fled and wandered.

Among the Gentiles they said,

“They will not dwell there any more.

The presence of the Lord has divided them;

He no longer watches over them.

They did not show the priests respect,

{K: Nor} [Q: Nor] did they show the elders compassion.”

Our eyes still fail us

At the worthlessness of the help we had,

When in our expectation we awaited a people,

But they could not save us.

They hounded us at our steps,

So that we could not walk on our streets.

Our end came near;

Our days were fulfilled,

For our end had come.

Our pursuers were swifter than eagles of the sky;

They ardently pursued us on the mountains

– In the desert they ambushed us.

The breath of our nostrils

– The Lord's anointed –

Was caught in their snares,

Of whom we said,

“We will live in his shadow among the Gentiles.”

Exult and be joyful, O daughter of Edom,

You who live in the land of Uz.

The cup will pass over you too,

And you will become drunk

And make yourself naked.

Your iniquity has come to its culmination,

O daughter of Zion;

He will not send you into exile any more.

He will punish your iniquity,

O daughter of Edom;

He will expose your sins.

Remember, O Lord,

What has come upon us.

{K: Look} [Q: Do look] and see our reproach.

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers

– Our houses to foreigners.

We have become {K: orphans;} [Q: orphans,]

{K: We have no} [Q: And we have no] father.

Our mothers are like widows.

We have drunk our water against payment;

Our wood comes at a price.

We are pursued at our necks,

We are {K: weary;} [Q: weary,]

{K: We} [Q: And we] are not given rest.

We offered the hand to Egypt;

We gave Assyria bread with which to be satiated.

Our fathers have {K: sinned;} [Q: sinned,]

{K: They} [Q: And they] are not here.

{K: We} [Q: And we] are suffering for their iniquities.

Servants have ruled over us;

No-one breaks away from their grip.

We fetch our bread at the risk of our lives

Because of the sword in the desert.

Our skin is as black as an oven

Because of the scorching famine.

They raped the women in Zion

And the virgins of the cities of Judah.

Princes were hanged at their behest;

The standing of the elderly was not respected.

They took young men to do grinding,

And youths staggered with wood.

Old men cease to be at the gate,

And young men playing music.

The joy of our heart has ceased;

Our dancing has turned into mourning.

The crown on our head has fallen off.

Oh woe to us,

For we have sinned!

For this reason our heart has become sick;

On these grounds our eyes have become dark.

On Mount Zion,

Which is desolate,

Foxes roam.

You, O Lord, remain age-abidingly;

Your throne is from generation to generation.

Why should you forget us forever

– Abandon us for the length of days?

Restore us, O Lord, to yourself,

{K: And we will return} [Q: And let us return].

Renew our days

As of old.

For you have utterly rejected us,

You have been angry with us

In great measure.