you young men and young women, you elderly, along with you children!

The Lover to His Beloved: Like ¹  a lily among the thorns, ²  so is my darling among the maidens.

Singers walk in front; musicians follow playing their stringed instruments, ¹  in the midst of young women playing tambourines. ² 

Can you play ¹  with it, like a bird, or tie it on a leash ²  for your girls?

Fire consumed their ¹  young men, and their ²  virgins remained unmarried. ³ 

She has sent out her female servants; she calls out on the highest places ¹  of the city.

She also gets up ¹  while it is still night, and provides food ²  for her household and a portion ³  to her female servants.

The fragrance ¹  of your colognes ²  is delightful; ³  your name ⁴  is like the finest ⁵  perfume. ⁶  No wonder the young women ⁷  adore ⁸  you!

There may be sixty ¹  queens, and eighty concubines, and young women ²  without number.

Then the daughter of Pharaoh ¹  came down to wash herself ²  by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, ³  and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants, ⁴  took it, ⁵ 

Now Boaz, with whose female servants you worked, is our close relative. ¹  Look, tonight he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor. ² 

And there will be enough goat’s milk for your food, ¹  for the food of your household, and for the sustenance ²  of your servant girls.

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 Beloved to the Maidens: O maidens of Jerusalem, I command you – If you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him that I am lovesick! ¹ 

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 to the Maidens: My beloved ¹  is dazzling ²  and ruddy; ³  he stands out ⁴  in comparison to ⁵  all other men. ⁶ 

But she is unique! ¹  My dove, my perfect one! She is the special daughter ²  of her mother, she is the favorite ³  of the one who bore her. The maidens ⁴  saw her and complimented her; ⁵  the queens and concubines praised her:

They raped ¹  women in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.

Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women – wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!” So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.

So Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, ¹  my dear! ²  Do not leave to gather grain in another field. You need not ³  go beyond the limits of this field. You may go along beside ⁴  my female workers. ⁵