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 

Its posts were made ¹  of silver; ²  its back ³  was made of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple wool; ⁴  its interior was inlaid ⁵  with leather ⁶  by the maidens ⁷  of Jerusalem.

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

Daughter Zion ¹  is left isolated, like a hut in a vineyard, or a shelter in a cucumber field; she is a besieged city. ² 

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

Send rams as tribute to the ruler of the land, ¹  from Sela in the desert ²  to the hill of Daughter Zion.

At the fords of the Arnon ¹  the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest. ² 

You complacent ¹  women, get up and listen to me! You carefree ²  daughters, pay attention to what I say!

Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow ¹  in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there. ² 

I will say to the north, ‘Hand them over!’ and to the south, ‘Don’t hold any back!’ Bring my sons from distant lands, and my daughters from the remote regions of the earth,

Shake off the dirt! ¹  Get up, captive ²  Jerusalem! Take off the iron chains around your neck, O captive daughter Zion!

They offer only superficial help for the hurt my dear people ¹  have suffered. ²  They say, “Everything will be all right!” But everything is not all right! ³ 

“Do not get married and do not have children here in this land.

Moab, you are doomed! ¹  You people who worship Chemosh will be destroyed. Your sons will be taken away captive. Your daughters will be carried away into exile. ² 

Why do you brag about your great power? Your power is ebbing away, ¹  you rebellious people of Ammon, ²  who trust in your riches and say, ‘Who would dare to attack us?’

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, son of man, turn toward ¹  the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination. ²  Prophesy against them

and her daughters ¹  who are in the field will be slaughtered by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

They made your oars from oaks of Bashan; they made your deck ¹  with cypresses ²  from the Kittean isles. ³