Immerse: Poets Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 274
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IMMERSE
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POETS
9:12–10:9
battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily
wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It
is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.
People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net
or birds in a trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.
Here is another bit of wisdom that has impressed me as I have watched the
way our world works. There was a small town with only a few people, and
a great king came with his army and besieged it. A poor, wise man knew
how to save the town, and so it was rescued. But afterward no one thought
to thank him. So even though wisdom is better than strength, those who
are wise will be despised if they are poor. What they say will not be appreciated for long.
Better to hear the quiet words of a wise person
than the shouts of a foolish king.
Better to have wisdom than weapons of war,
but one sinner can destroy much that is good.
As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink,
so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.
A wise person chooses the right road;
a fool takes the wrong one.
You can identify fools
just by the way they walk down the street!
If your boss is angry at you, don’t quit!
A quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes.
There is another evil I have seen under the sun. Kings and rulers make a
grave mistake when they give great authority to foolish people and low positions to people of proven worth. I have even seen servants riding horseback like princes—and princes walking like servants!
When you dig a well,
you might fall in.
When you demolish an old wall,
you could be bitten by a snake.
When you work in a quarry,
stones might fall and crush you.
When you chop wood,
there is danger with each stroke of your ax.
