The Bride’s Admiration

The Bride

¹I am a rose of Sharon,a lily of the valley.

The Bridegroom

²Like a lily among the thornsis my darling among the maidens.

The Bride

³Like an apple tree among the trees of the forestis my beloved among the young men.I delight to sit in his shade,and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

⁴He has brought me to the house of wine,and his banner over me is love.

⁵Sustain me with raisins;refresh me with apples,for I am faint with love.

⁶His left hand is under my head,and his right arm embraces me.

⁷O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure youby the gazelles and does of the field:Do not arouse or awaken loveuntil the time is right.

⁸Listen! My beloved approaches.Look! Here he comes,leaping across the mountains,bounding over the hills.

⁹My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.Look, he stands behind our wall,gazing through the windows,peering through the lattice.

¹⁰My beloved calls to me,“Arise, my darling.Come away with me, my beautiful one.

¹¹For now the winter is past;the rain is over and gone.

¹²The flowers have appeared in the countryside;the season of singinghas come,and the cooing of turtledovesis heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree ripens its figs;the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.Arise, come away, my darling;come away with me, my beautiful one.”

The Bridegroom

¹⁴O my dove in the clefts of the rock,in the crevices of the cliff,let me see your face,let me hear your voice;for your voice is sweet,and your countenance is lovely.

The Friends

¹⁵Catch for us the foxes—the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—for our vineyards are in bloom.

The Bride

¹⁶My beloved is mine and I am his;he pastures his flock among the lilies.

¹⁷Before the day breaks and shadows flee,turn, my beloved,and be like a gazelleor a young stag on the mountains of Bether.

Longing for Her Beloved

¹O that you were to me like a brotherwho nursed at my mother’s breasts!If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you,and no one would despise me.

²I would lead you and bring youto the house of my mother who taught me.I would give you spiced wine to drink,the nectar of my pomegranates.

³His left hand is under my head,and his right arm embraces me.

⁴O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you:Do not arouse or awaken loveuntil the time is right.

The Friends

⁵Who is this coming up from the wilderness,leaning on her beloved?The BrideI roused you under the apple tree;there your mother conceived you;there she travailed and brought you forth.

⁶Set me as a seal over your heart,as a seal upon your arm.For love is as strong as death,its jealousyas unrelenting as Sheol.Its sparks are fiery flames,the fiercest blaze of all.

⁷Mighty waters cannot quench love;rivers cannot sweep it away.If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,his offer would be utterly scorned.

The Friends

⁸We have a little sister,and her breasts are not yet grown.What shall we do for our sisteron the day she is spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall,we will build a tower of silver upon her.If she is a door,we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

The Bride

¹⁰I am a wall,and my breasts are like towers.So I have become in his eyeslike one who brings peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon.He leased it to the tenants.For its fruit, each was to bringa thousand shekels of silver.

¹²But my own vineyard is mine to give;the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon,and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

The Bridegroom

¹³You who dwell in the gardens,my companions are listening for your voice.Let me hear it!

The Bride

¹⁴Come away, my beloved,and be like a gazelleor a young stagon the mountains of spices.

Heaven Is My Throne

¹This is what the LORD says:“Heaven is My throne,and earth is My footstool.What kind of house will you build for Me?Or where will My place of repose be?

²Has not My hand made all these things?And so they came into being,”declares the LORD.“This is the one I will esteem:he who is humble and contrite in spirit,who trembles at My word.

³Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who slays a man;whoever sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck;whoever presents a grain offering is like one who offers pig’s blood;whoever offers frankincense is like one who blesses an idol.Indeed, they have chosen their own waysand delighted in their abominations.

⁴So I will choose their punishmentand I will bring terror upon them,because I called and no one answered,I spoke and no one listened.But they did evil in My sightand chose that in which I did not delight.”

⁵You who tremble at His word,hear the word of the LORD:“Your brothers who hate youand exclude you because of My namehave said, ‘Let the LORD be glorifiedthat we may see your joy!’But they will be put to shame.”

⁶Hear the uproar from the city;listen to the voice from the temple!It is the voice of the LORD,repaying His enemies what they deserve!

Rejoice with Jerusalem

⁷“Before she was in labor, she gave birth;before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.

⁸Who has heard of such as this?Who has seen such things?Can a country be born in a dayor a nation be delivered in an instant?Yet as soon as Zion was in labor,she gave birth to her children.

⁹Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?”says the LORD.“Or will I who deliver close the womb?”says your God.

¹⁰Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her,all who love her.Rejoice greatly with her,all who mourn over her,

¹¹so that you may nurse and be satisfiedat her comforting breasts;you may drink deeply and delight yourselvesin her glorious abundance.

¹²For this is what the LORD says:“I will extend peace to her like a river,and the wealth of nations like a flowing stream;you will nurse and be carried on her arm,and bounced upon her knees.

¹³As a mother comforts her son,so will I comfort you,and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

¹⁴When you see, you will rejoice,and you will flourish like grass;then the hand of the LORD will be revealed to His servants,but His wrath will be shown to His enemies.

Final Judgments against the Wicked

¹⁵For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with furyand His rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶For by fire and by His sword,the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh,and many will be slain by the LORD.

¹⁷“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.

¹⁸“And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am comingto gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.

¹⁹I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islandsfar away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory.So they will proclaim My glory among the nations.

²⁰And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”

²¹“And I will select some of them as priests and Levites,” says the LORD.

²²“For just as the new heavens and the new earth,which I will make, will endure before Me,”declares the LORD,“so your descendants and your name will endure.

²³From one New Moon to anotherand from one Sabbath to another,all mankind will come to worship before Me,”says the LORD.

²⁴“As they go forth, they will see the corpsesof the men who have rebelled against Me;for their worm will never die,their fire will never be quenched,and they will be a horrorto all mankind.”

The Mighty One Calls

¹The Mighty One, God the LORD,speaks and summons the earthfrom where the sun rises to where it sets.

²From Zion, perfect in beauty,God shines forth.

³Our God approaches and will not be silent!Consuming fire precedes Him,and a tempest rages around Him.

⁴He summons the heavens above,and the earth, that He may judge His people:

⁵“Gather to Me My saints,who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

⁶And the heavens proclaim His righteousness,for God Himself is Judge.Selah

⁷“Hear, O My people, and I will speak,O Israel, and I will testify against you:I am God, your God.

⁸I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices,and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.

⁹I have no need for a bull from your stallor goats from your pens,

¹⁰for every beast of the forest is Mine—the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know every bird in the mountains,and the creatures of the field are Mine.

¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell you,for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.

¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls,or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Sacrifice a thank offering to God,and fulfill your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble;I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

¹⁶To the wicked, however, God says,“What right have you to recite My statutesand to bear My covenant on your lips?

¹⁷For you hate My instructionand cast My words behind you.

¹⁸When you see a thief, you befriend him,and throw in your lot with adulterers.

¹⁹You unleash your mouth for eviland harness your tongue to deceit.

²⁰You sit and malign your brother;you slander your own mother’s son.

²¹You have done these things, and I kept silent;you thought I wasjust like you.But now I rebuke youand accuse you to your face.

²²Now consider this, you who forget God,lest I tear you to pieces,with no one to rescue you:

²³He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me,and to him who rightly orders his way,I will show the salvation of God.”