Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. ¹  There is no end to the making ²  of many books, and much study is exhausting to the body. ³ 

The Beloved to the Maidens: I am dark but lovely, O maidens ¹  of Jerusalem, dark ²  like the tents of Qedar, ³  lovely ⁴  like the tent curtains ⁵  of Salmah. ⁶ 

The night watchmen found me – the ones who guard the city walls. ¹  “Have you seen my beloved?” ² 

You have stolen my heart, ¹  my sister, ²  my bride! You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, ³  with one jewel of your necklace.

His mouth is very sweet; ¹  he is totally desirable. ²  This is my beloved! This is my companion, O maidens of Jerusalem!

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: Make haste, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion’s mountain ¹  – at the hill of Jerusalem.

O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, ¹  what I have heard from the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, I have reported to you.

The people I call my own ¹  have turned on me like a lion ²  in the forest. They have roared defiantly ³  at me. So I will treat them as though I hate them. ⁴ 

Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, ¹  you dear poor people of Egypt. ²  But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; ³  there will be no healing for you.

Pack your bags for exile, you inhabitants of poor dear Egypt. ¹  For Memphis will be laid waste. It will lie in ruins ²  and be uninhabited.

ו (Vav) The punishment ¹  of my people ²  exceeded that of ³  of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment with no one to help her. ⁴ 

י (Yod) The hands of tenderhearted women ¹  cooked their own children, who became their food, ²  when my people ³  were destroyed. ⁴ 

“‘As for you, my sheep, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.

I will save my sheep; they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.

And you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, ¹  and I am your God, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

“At that time,” ¹  declares the Lord, “you will call, ²  ‘My husband’; ³  you will never again call me, ⁴  ‘My master.’ ⁵ 

Ephraim will be struck down ¹  – their root will be dried up; they will not yield any fruit. Even if they do bear children, I will kill their precious offspring.

Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. They will see me there.”