With difficulty we sailed along the coast ¹  of Crete ²  and came to a place called Fair Havens that was near the town of Lasea. ³ 

He ¹  said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,’

The Lover to His Beloved: My lover spoke to me, saying: “Arise, my darling; My beautiful one, come away with me!

The Lover to His Beloved: Oh, ¹  how beautiful you are, my beloved! ²  Oh, how beautiful you are! Your eyes ³  are like doves! ⁴ 

By his breath ¹  the skies became fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. ² 

Then you will understand ¹  righteousness and justice and equity – every ²  good ³  way. ⁴ 

How beautiful you are! How lovely, O love, ¹  with your delights! ² 

“Who ¹  is this who appears ²  like the dawn? ³  Beautiful as the moon, ⁴  bright ⁵  as the sun, awe-inspiring ⁶  as the stars in procession?” ⁷ 

“Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s conduct ¹  is unjust!’ Hear, O house of Israel: Is my conduct unjust? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?

Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The Lord’s conduct is unjust!’ Is my conduct unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?

The Lover to His Beloved: Oh, ²  you are beautiful, my darling! ³  Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. ⁴  Your hair is like a flock of female goats descending ⁵  from Mount Gilead.

Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain; I myself put a fine yoke ¹ on her neck. I will harness Ephraim. Let Judah plow! ²  Let Jacob break up ³  the unplowed ground for himself!

In that day your ¹  beautiful young women ²  and your ³  young men will faint from thirst. ⁴ 

Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

‘How ¹  beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, and your dwelling places, O Israel!

To receive ¹  moral instruction ²  in skillful living, ³  in ⁴  righteousness, ⁵  justice, ⁶  and equity. ⁷ 

You are altogether beautiful, my darling! There is no blemish in you!

Consider Assyria, ¹  a cedar in Lebanon, ²  with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade, and extremely tall; its top reached into the clouds.

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!”

Egypt is like a beautiful young cow. But northern armies will attack her like swarms of stinging flies. ¹