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 

Your splendor ¹  has been brought down to Sheol, as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. ²  You lie on a bed of maggots, with a blanket of worms over you. ³ 

I will make your pinnacles out of gems, ¹  your gates out of beryl, ²  and your outer wall ³  out of beautiful ⁴  stones.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

I am presently eighty years old. Am I able to discern good and bad? Can I ¹  taste what I eat and drink? Am I still able to hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should I ²  continue to be a burden to my lord the king?

Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children. They are the children I take delight in. ¹  For even though I must often rebuke them, I still remember them with fondness. So I am deeply moved with pity for them ²  and will surely have compassion on them. I, the Lord, affirm it! ³ 

Even though he flourishes like a reed plant, ¹  a scorching east wind will come, a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert. As a result, his spring will dry up; ²  his well will become dry. That wind ³  will spoil all his delightful foods in the containers in his storehouse.

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities,

and one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering for a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

this is in addition to the monthly burnt offering and its grain offering, and the daily burnt offering with its grain offering and their drink offerings as prescribed, as a sweet aroma, a sacrifice made by fire to the Lord.

Do whatever is proper ¹  and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he ²  promised your ancestors,

So Jesse had him brought in. ¹  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

כ (Kaf) All her people groaned as they searched for a morsel of bread. ¹  They exchanged ²  their valuables ³  for ⁴  just enough food to stay alive. ⁵ “Look, O Lord! Consider ⁶  that I have become worthless!”

In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush ¹  pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel.

From one of them came a small horn. ¹  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ² 

Look! ¹  Even if ²  they flee from the destruction, Egypt will take hold ³  of them, and Memphis will bury them. The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure ⁴  – thorn bushes will occupy their homes. ⁵ 

and you make an offering by fire to the Lord from the herd or from the flock (whether a burnt offering or a sacrifice for discharging a vow or as a freewill offering or in your solemn feasts) to create a pleasing aroma to the Lord,

then if anything is done unintentionally ¹  without the knowledge of ²  the community, the whole community must prepare one young bull for a burnt offering – for a pleasing aroma to the Lord – along with its grain offering and its customary drink offering, and one male goat for a purification offering.

Rejoice, young man, while you are young, ¹  and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses ²  of your heart and the desires ³  of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions. ⁴