The Beloved to Her Lover: “I have already taken off my robe – must I put it on again? I have already washed my feet – must I soil them again?”

The Lover to His Beloved: ¹  I went down to the orchard of walnut trees, ²  to look for the blossoms of the valley, ³  to see if the vines had budded or if the pomegranates were in bloom.

The Beloved to the Maidens: I admonish you, O maidens ¹  of Jerusalem: “Do not ²  arouse or awaken love until it pleases!”

The Beloved: I was a wall, and my breasts were like fortress towers. ¹  Then I found favor ²  in his eyes. ³ 

The Beloved to Her Lover: Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon; he leased out ¹  the vineyard to those who maintained it. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

So I say: “Don’t look at me! ¹  I am weeping bitterly. Don’t try ²  to console me concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” ³ 

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, ¹  that my situation has actually turned out to advance the gospel: ² 

And indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers and sisters ¹  in all of Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, ² 

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, ¹  admonish the undisciplined, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient toward all.

Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates! ² 

“Do not harm the boy!” ¹  the angel said. ²  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ³  that you fear ⁴  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Likewise, the most ¹  tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, ²  will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters,

These are the final words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised up as the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, ¹  Israel’s beloved ²  singer of songs:

The fig tree has budded, the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance. Arise, come away my darling; my beautiful one, come away with me!”

Scarcely ¹  had I passed them by when I found my beloved! I held onto him ²  tightly and would not let him go ³  until I brought him to my mother’s house, ⁴  to the bedroom chamber ⁵  of the one who conceived me.

The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you were ¹  my little brother, ²  nursing at my mother’s breasts; if I saw ³  you outside, I could kiss you – surely ⁴  no one would despise me! ⁵ 

“‘For the Lord says concerning the palace of the king of Judah, “This place looks like a veritable forest of Gilead to me. It is like the wooded heights of Lebanon in my eyes. But I swear that I will make it like a wilderness whose towns have all been deserted. ¹ 

These are the ones who now take oaths ¹  in the name of the sinful idol goddess ²  of Samaria. They vow, ³  ‘As surely as your god ⁴  lives, O Dan,’ or ‘As surely as your beloved one ⁵  lives, O Beer Sheba!’ But they will fall down and not get up again.”

Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. ¹  For Judah has profaned ²  the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god! ³ 

Brothers and sisters, ¹  I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: ²  Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead,