The Living Bible (216 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Don’t let the excitement of being young cause you to forget about your Creator. Honor him in your youth before the evil years come—when you’ll no longer enjoy living.
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It will be too late then to try to remember him when the sun and light and moon and stars are dim to your old eyes, and there is no silver lining left among your clouds.
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For there will come a time when your limbs will tremble with age, your strong legs will become weak, and your teeth will be too few to do their work, and there will be blindness too.
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Then let your lips be tightly closed while eating when your teeth are gone! And you will waken at dawn with the first note of the birds; but you yourself will be deaf and tuneless, with quavering voice.
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You will be afraid of heights and of falling—a white-haired, withered old man, dragging himself along: without sexual desire, standing at death’s door, and nearing his everlasting home as the mourners go along the streets.
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Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young—before the silver cord of life snaps and the gold bowl is broken; before the pitcher is broken at the fountain and the wheel is broken at the cistern;
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then the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
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All is futile, says the Preacher; utterly futile.
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But then, because the Preacher was wise, he went on teaching the people all he knew; and he collected proverbs and classified them.
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For the Preacher was not only a wise man but a good teacher; he not only taught what he knew to the people, but taught them in an interesting manner.
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The wise man’s words are like goads that spur to action. They nail down important truths. Students are wise who master what their teachers tell them.
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But, my son, be warned: there is no end of opinions ready to be expressed. Studying them can go on forever and become very exhausting!
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Here is my final conclusion: fear God and obey his commandments, for this is the entire duty of man.
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For God will judge us for everything we do, including every hidden thing, good or bad.
This song of songs, more wonderful than any other, was composed by King Solomon:
The Girl:
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“Kiss me again and again, for your love is sweeter than wine.
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How fragrant your cologne, and how great your name! No wonder all the young girls love you!
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Take me with you; come, let’s run!”
The Girl:
“The king has brought me into his palace. How happy we will be! Your love is better than wine. No wonder all the young girls love you!”
The Girl:
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“I am dark but beautiful, O girls of Jerusalem, tanned as the dark tents of Kedar.”
King Solomon:
“But lovely as the silken tents of Solomon!”
The Girl:
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“Don’t look down on me, you city girls,
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just because my complexion is so dark—the sun has tanned me. My brothers were angry with me and sent me out into the sun
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to tend the vineyards, but see what it has done to me!”
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The Girl:
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“Tell me, O one I love, where are you leading your flock today? Where will you be at noon? For I will come and join you there instead of wandering like a vagabond among the flocks of your companions.”
King Solomon:
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“If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman in all the world, follow the trail of my flock to the shepherds’ tents, and there feed your sheep and their lambs.
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What a lovely filly you are,
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my love!
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How lovely your cheeks are, with your hair
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falling down upon them! How stately your neck with that long string of jewels.
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We shall make you gold earrings and silver beads.”
The Girl:
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“The king lies on his bed, enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume.
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My beloved one is a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts.”
King Solomon:
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“My beloved is a bouquet of flowers in the gardens of Engedi.
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How beautiful you are, my love, how beautiful! Your eyes are soft as doves’.
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What a lovely, pleasant thing you are, lying here upon the grass,
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shaded by the cedar trees and firs.”
The Girl:
“I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley.”
King Solomon:
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“Yes, a lily among thorns, so is my beloved as compared with any other girls.”
The Girl:
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“My lover is an apple tree, the finest in the orchard as compared with any of the other youths. I am seated in his much-desired shade and his fruit is lovely to eat.
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He brings me to the banquet hall, and everyone can see how much he loves me.
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Oh, feed me with your love—your ‘raisins’ and your ‘apples’—for I am utterly lovesick.
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His left hand is under my head and with his right hand he embraces me.
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O girls of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and deer in the park, that you do not awaken my lover.
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Let him sleep!”
The Girl:
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“Ah, I hear him—my beloved! Here he comes, leaping upon the mountains and bounding over the hills.
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My beloved is like a gazelle or young deer. Look, there he is behind the wall, now looking in at the windows.
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“My beloved said to me, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
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For the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
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The flowers are springing up and the time of the singing of birds has come. Yes, spring is here.
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The leaves are coming out,
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and the grapevines are in blossom. How delicious they smell! Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.’
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“My dove is hiding behind some rocks, behind an outcrop of the cliff. Call to me and let me hear your lovely voice and see your handsome face.
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“The little foxes are ruining the vineyards. Catch them, for the grapes are all in blossom.
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“My beloved is mine and I am his. He is feeding among the lilies!
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Before the dawn comes and the shadows flee away, come to me, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.”
The Girl:
“One night my lover was missing from my bed. I got up to look for him but couldn’t find him.
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I went out into the streets of the city and the roads to seek him, but I searched in vain.
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The police stopped me, and I said to them, ‘Have you seen him anywhere, this one I love so much?’
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It was only a little while afterwards that I found him and held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my childhood home, into my mother’s old bedroom.
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I adjure you, O women of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and deer of the park, not to awake my lover. Let him sleep.”
The Young Women of Jerusalem:
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“Who is this sweeping in from the deserts like a cloud of smoke along the ground, smelling of myrrh and frankincense and every other spice that can be bought?
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Look, it is the chariot
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of Solomon with sixty of the mightiest men of his army surrounding it.
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They are all skilled swordsmen and experienced bodyguards. Each one has his sword upon his thigh to defend his king against any onslaught in the night.
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For King Solomon made himself a chariot from the wood of Lebanon.
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Its posts are silver, its canopy gold, the seat is purple; and the back is inlaid with these words: ‘With love from the girls of Jerusalem!’”
The Girl:
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“Go out and see King Solomon, O young women of Zion; see the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, his day of gladness.”