Talmud zu Mischlej 15:23

He who recites a verse from the Song of Songs¹³Cf. Sanh. 101a (Sonc. ed., p. 684). GRA reads ‘evil’ instead of ‘Flood’. rendering it as a [secular] song, and similarly whoever recites a verse from the Torah unseasonably at banqueting tables, causes the Flood to come upon the world; because the Torah clothes itself in sackcloth, stands before the Holy One, blessed be He, and complains, ‘Sovereign of the universe! Thy children have made me as a harp upon which scorners play’. To this He replies, ‘My daughter, when they rejoice what should they do?’ She makes the rejoinder, ‘Sovereign of the universe! If he is a scholar let him occupy himself with the Torah, with study and good deeds and ’aggadoth; let students of Scripture occupy themselves with Scripture, students of Midrash and Mishnah with the laws of Passover on Passover, the laws of Pentecost on Pentecost and the laws of Tabernacles on Tabernacles’. R. Simeon¹⁴GRA adds ‘b. Eleazar in the name of R. Joshua b. Ḥananiah’. testified and said: Whoever reads a verse in season brings good to the world, as it is stated, And a word in due season, how good is it!¹⁵Prov. 15, 23.