He
5 I gcame to my garden, my hsister, my bride,
I gathered my imyrrh with my spice,
I ate my jhoneycomb with my honey,
I kdrank my wine with my milk.
Others
Eat, lfriends, drink,
and be drunk with love!
The Bride Searches for Her Beloved
She
2 I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is mknocking.
“Open to me, my nsister, my olove,
for my head is wet with dew,
my rlocks with the drops of the night.”
3 sI had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had tbathed my feet;
how could I soil them?
4 My beloved put his hand to the latch,
and my heart was thrilled within me.
5 I arose to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with uliquid myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he vspoke.
wI sought him, but found him not;
xI called him, but he gave no answer.
7 yThe watchmen found me
as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
they took away my veil,
those watchmen of the walls.
8 I zadjure you, O adaughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
bI am sick with love.
Others
9 What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O cmost beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus zadjure us?
The Bride Praises Her Beloved
She
10 My beloved is radiant and druddy,
edistinguished among ten thousand.
11 His head is the finest gold;
fhis locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
12 His geyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
sitting beside a full pool.1
13 His icheeks are like jbeds of spices,
mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are klilies,
dripping uliquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold,
set with ljewels.
His body is polished ivory,2
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like oLebanon,
choice as the cedars.
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O adaughters of Jerusalem.
Others
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O cmost beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?
Together in the Garden of Love
She
2 My beloved has gone down to his qgarden
to rthe beds of spices,
and to gather tlilies.
3 uI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
he grazes among the lilies.
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
4 You are beautiful as vTirzah, wmy love,
zawesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me—
aYour hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
6 bYour teeth are like a flock of ewes
that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
not one among them has lost its young.
7 cYour cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
8 There are dsixty equeens and eighty econcubines,
and fvirgins without number.
9 My gdove, my hperfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to iher who bore her.
jThe young women saw her and called her blessed;
10 k“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
lawesome as an army with banners?”
She
11 I went down to the nut orchard
to look at mthe blossoms of the valley,
nto see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 oBefore I was aware, my desire set me
Others
13 3 Return, return, O qShulammite,
return, return, that we may look upon you.
He
Why should you look upon qthe Shulammite,
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O tnoble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like ujewels,
the work of va master hand.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with wlilies.
3 xYour two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your yneck is like an ivory tower.
Your zeyes are pools in aHeshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of bLebanon,
which looks toward cDamascus.
5 Your head crowns you like eCarmel,
and your fflowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.
6 gHow beautiful and hpleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!1
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like iclusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
She
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.3
10 kI am my beloved’s,
land his desire is for me.
The Bride Gives Her Love
11 mCome, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;4
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
nand see whether the vines have budded,
whether othe grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 pThe mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
qnew as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
Longing for Her Beloved
8 Oh that you were like a brother to me
who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and none would despise me.
2 I would lead you and rbring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you sspiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate.
3 tHis left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
4 I uadjure you, O vdaughters of Jerusalem,
wthat you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
5 xWho is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as ya seal upon your arm,
for zlove is strong as death,
ajealousy1 is fierce as the grave.2
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very bflame of the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his chouse,
he3 would be utterly despised.
Final Advice
Others
8 We have a little sister,
and she dhas no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with eboards of cedar.
She
10 fI was a wall,
and my gbreasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds4 peace.
11 Solomon had ha vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he ilet out the vineyard to jkeepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit ka thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and lthe keepers of the fruit two hundred.
He
13 mO you who dwell in the gardens,
with ncompanions listening for your voice;
olet me hear it.
She
14 pMake haste, my beloved,
and be qlike a gazelle
or a young stag
on rthe mountains of spices.
Isaiah
1 The avision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem bin the days of cUzziah, dJotham, eAhaz, and fHezekiah, kings of Judah.
The Wickedness of Judah
2 gHear, O heavens, and give ear, O hearth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children1 ihave I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox jknows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does jnot know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
koffspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have ldespised mthe Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly nestranged.
5 Why will you still be ostruck down?
Why will you pcontinue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6 qFrom the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are rnot pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.
7 sYour country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
8 And tthe daughter of Zion is left
like a ubooth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
9 vIf the Lord of hosts
had not left us wa few survivors,
we should have been like xSodom,
and become like xGomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
Give ear to the teaching2 of our God,
you people of zGomorrah!
11 a“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to bappear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
cNew moon and Sabbath and the dcalling of convocations—
I cannot endure einiquity and fsolemn assembly.
14 Your cnew moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you gspread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
heven though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
iyour hands are full of blood.
16 jWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
kcease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
lseek justice,
correct oppression;
mbring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
18 “Come now, nlet us reason3 together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as owhite as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 pIf you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
qfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The Unfaithful City
21 How the faithful city
sshe who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now murderers.
22 tYour silver has become dross,
your best wine mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Everyone uloves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
vThey do not bring justice to the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
24 Therefore the wLord declares,
the Lord of hosts,
the xMighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
yand avenge myself on my foes.
25 zI will turn my hand against you
and will smelt away your adross as with lye
and remove all your alloy.
26 And I will restore your judges bas at the first,
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward cyou shall be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.”
27 dZion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28 eBut rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
29 fFor they5 shall be ashamed of gthe oaks
that you desired;
and you shall blush for hthe gardens
that you have chosen.
30 For you shall be ilike an oak
whose leaf withers,
and like a garden without water.
31 And the strong shall become jtinder,
and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
with knone to quench them.