6  Where has your beloved gone,

O ^cmost beautiful among women?

Where has your beloved turned,

that we may seek him with you?

2  My beloved has gone down to his ^qgarden

to ^rthe beds of spices,

to ^sgraze¹ in the gardens

and to gather ^tlilies.

3  ^uI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;

he grazes among the lilies.

4  You are beautiful as ^vTirzah, ^wmy love,

^xlovely as ^yJerusalem,

^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;

^ethe queens and ^econcubines also, and they praised her.

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?”

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

among ^pthe chariots of my kinsman, a prince.²

13  ³ Return, return, O ^qShulammite,

return, return, that we may look upon you.

Why should you look upon ^qthe Shulammite,

as upon ^ra dance before ^stwo armies?⁴

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,

9  and your ^jmouth² like the best wine.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

13  ^mO you who dwell in the gardens,

with ⁿcompanions listening for your voice;

^olet me hear it.

14  ^pMake haste, my beloved,

and be ^qlike a gazelle

or a young stag

on ^rthe mountains of spices.

2  ^gHear, O heavens, and give ear, O ^hearth;

for the Lord has spoken:

“Children^{1 i}have 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,

you rulers of ^yzSodom!

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.”

21  How the faithful city

^rhas become a whore,⁴

^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.

2  ^lIt shall come to pass in the latter days

that ^mthe mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and ⁿall the nations shall flow to it,

3  and ^omany peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For ^pout of Zion shall go forth the law,¹

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4  He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

^qand they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

^rnation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.

5  O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in ^sthe light of the Lord.

6  For you have rejected your people,

the house of Jacob,

because they are full of things ^tfrom the east

and ^uof fortune-tellers ^vlike the Philistines,

and they ^wstrike hands with the children of foreigners.

7  Their land is ^xfilled with silver and gold,

and there is no end to their treasures;

their land is ^yfilled with horses,

and there is no end to their chariots.

8  Their land is ^zfilled with idols;

they bow down to ^athe work of their hands,

to what their own fingers have made.

9  So man ^bis humbled,

and each one ^bis brought low—

do not forgive them!

10  ^cEnter into the rock

and hide in the dust

^dfrom before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty.

11  ^eThe haughty looks of man shall be brought low,

and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

12  ^fFor the Lord of hosts has a day

against all that is proud and lofty,

against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;

13  against all the ^gcedars of Lebanon,

lofty and lifted up;

and against all the ^hoaks of Bashan;

14  against all ⁱthe lofty mountains,

and against all the uplifted hills;

15  against every high tower,

and against every fortified wall;

16  against all ^jthe ships of Tarshish,

and against all the beautiful craft.

17  ^kAnd the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,

and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

18  ^lAnd the idols shall utterly pass away.

19  ^mAnd people shall enter the caves of the rocks

and the holes of the ground,²

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

ⁿwhen he rises to terrify the earth.

20  In that day ^omankind will cast away

their idols of silver and their idols of gold,

which they made for themselves to worship,

to the moles and to the ^pbats,

21  ^mto enter the caverns of the rocks

and the clefts of the cliffs,

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

ⁿwhen he rises to terrify the earth.

22  ^qStop regarding man

^rin whose nostrils is breath,

for of what account is he?