under a servant who becomes king, under a fool who is stuffed with food,

rock badgers are creatures with little power, but they make their homes in the crags;

Do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which ruins kings.

let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more.

She obtains wool and flax, and she is pleased to work with her hands.

She begins her work vigorously, and she strengthens her arms.

What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth?

The fool folds his hands and does no work, so he has nothing to eat but his own flesh.

Draw me after you; let us hurry! May the king bring me into his bedroom chambers! The Maidens to the Lover: We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. The Beloved to Her Lover: How rightly the young women adore you!

The Lover to His Beloved: Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens.

The Lover to His Beloved: I have entered my garden, O my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk! The Poet to the Couple: Eat, friends, and drink! Drink freely, O lovers!

The Lord says, “I will make youths their officials; malicious young men will rule over them.

The sovereign master decreed judgment on Jacob, and it fell on Israel.

Indeed, he says: “Are not my officials all kings?

The whole earth rests and is quiet; they break into song.

Everyone will suffer – the priest as well as the people, the master as well as the servant, the elegant lady as well as the female attendant, the seller as well as the buyer, the borrower as well as the lender, the creditor as well as the debtor.

the people whom I formed for myself, so they might praise me.”

One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter, “What in the world are you doing? Your work lacks skill!”

So listen to this, oppressed one, who is drunk, but not from wine!

Who are these who float along like a cloud, who fly like doves to their shelters?