Song of Songs 5-8; Psalms 12 - Prayer Tents

5[Young Man] I have entered my garden, my treasure, my bride! I gather myrrh with my spices and eat honeycomb with my honey. I drink wine with my milk. [Young Women of Jerusalem] Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink! Yes, drink deeply of your love!H935H1588H269H3618H717H4753H1313H398H3293H1706H8354H3196H2461H398H7453H8354H7937H1730 2[Young Woman] I slept, but my heart was awake, when I heard my lover knocking and calling: “Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”H3463H3820H5782H6963H1730H1849H6605H269H7474H3123H8535H7218H4390H2919H6977H7447H3915 3But I responded, “I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?”H6584H3801H349H3847H7364H7272H349H2936 4My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled within me.H1730H7971H3027H4480H2356H4578H1993 5I jumped up to open the door for my love, and my hands dripped with perfume. My fingers dripped with lovely myrrh as I pulled back the bolt.H6965H6605H1730H3027H5197H4753H676H5674H4753H3709H4514 6I opened to my lover, but he was gone! My heart sank. I searched for him but could not find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply.H6605H1730H1730H2559H5674H5315H3318H1696H1245H4672H7121H6030 7The night watchmen found me as they made their rounds. They beat and bruised me and stripped off my veil, those watchmen on the walls.H8104H5437H5892H4672H5221H6481H8104H2346H5375H7289 8Make this promise, O women of Jerusalem—If you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love.H7650H1323H3389H4672H1730H5046H2470H160 9[Young Women of Jerusalem] Why is your lover better than all others, O woman of rare beauty? What makes your lover so special that we must promise this?H1730H1730H3303H802H1730H1730H3602H7650 10[Young Woman] My lover is dark and dazzling, better than ten thousand others!H1730H6703H122H1713H7233 11His head is finest gold, his wavy hair is black as a raven.H7218H3800H6337H6977H8534H7838H6158 12His eyes sparkle like doves beside springs of water; they are set like jewels washed in milk.H5869H3123H650H4325H7364H2461H3427H4402 13His cheeks are like gardens of spices giving off fragrance. His lips are like lilies, perfumed with myrrh.H3895H6170H1314H4840H4026H8193H7799H5197H5674H4753 14His arms are like rounded bars of gold, set with beryl. His body is like bright ivory, glowing with lapis lazuli.H3027H2091H1550H4390H8658H4578H6247H8127H5968H5601 15His legs are like marble pillars set in sockets of finest gold. His posture is stately, like the noble cedars of Lebanon.H7785H5982H8336H3245H134H6337H4758H3844H977H730 16His mouth is sweetness itself; he is desirable in every way. Such, O women of Jerusalem, is my lover, my friend.H2441H4477H4261H1730H7453H1323H3389

6[Young Women of Jerusalem] Where has your lover gone, O woman of rare beauty? Which way did he turn so we can help you find him?H1730H1980H3303H802H1730H6437H1245 2[Young Woman] My lover has gone down to his garden, to his spice beds, to browse in the gardens and gather the lilies.H1730H3381H1588H6170H1314H7462H1588H3950H7799 3I am my lover’s, and my lover is mine. He browses among the lilies.H1730H1730H7462H7799 4[Young Man] You are beautiful, my darling, like the lovely city of Tirzah. Yes, as beautiful as Jerusalem, as majestic as an army with billowing banners.H3303H7474H8656H5000H3389H366H1713 5Turn your eyes away, for they overpower me. Your hair falls in waves, like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.H5437H5869H1992H7292H8181H5739H5795H1570H1568 6Your teeth are as white as sheep that are freshly washed. Your smile is flawless, each tooth matched with its twin.H8127H5739H7353H5927H7367H8382H7909 7Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates behind your veil.H6400H7416H7541H1157H6777 8Even among sixty queens and eighty concubines and countless young women,H8346H4436H8084H6370H5959H4557 9I would still choose my dove, my perfect one—the favorite of her mother, dearly loved by the one who bore her. The young women see her and praise her; even queens and royal concubines sing her praises.H3123H8535H259H259H517H1249H3205H1323H7200H833H4436H6370H1984 10“Who is this, arising like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as an army with billowing banners?”H8259H7837H3303H3842H1249H2535H366H1713 11I went down to the grove of walnut trees and out to the valley to see the new spring growth, to see whether the grapevines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom.H3381H1594H93H7200H3H5158H7200H1612H6524H7416H5132 12Before I realized it, I found myself in the royal chariot with my beloved.H3045H5315H7760H4818H5993 13[Young Women of Jerusalem] Return, return to us, O maid of Shulam. Come back, come back, that we may see you again. [Young Man] Why do you stare at this young woman of Shulam, as she moves so gracefully between two lines of dancers?H7725H7725H7759H7725H7725H2372H2372H7759H4246H4264

7How beautiful are your sandaled feet, O queenly maiden. Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a skilled craftsman.H3302H6471H5275H5081H1323H2542H3409H2481H4639H3027H542 2Your navel is perfectly formed like a goblet filled with mixed wine. Between your thighs lies a mound of wheat bordered with lilies.H8326H5469H101H2637H4197H990H6194H2406H5473H7799 3Your breasts are like two fawns, twin fawns of a gazelle.H8147H7699H8147H6082H6646H8380 4Your neck is as beautiful as an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the sparkling pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is as fine as the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus.H6677H4026H8127H5869H1295H2809H8179H1337H639H4026H3844H6822H6440H1834 5Your head is as majestic as Mount Carmel, and the sheen of your hair radiates royalty. The king is held captive by its tresses.H7218H3760H1803H7218H713H4428H631H7298 6Oh, how beautiful you are! How pleasing, my love, how full of delights!H3302H5276H160H8588 7You are slender like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters of fruit.H6967H1819H8558H7699H811 8I said, “I will climb the palm tree and take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like grape clusters, and the fragrance of your breath like apples.H559H5927H8558H270H5577H7699H811H1612H7381H639H8598 9May your kisses be as exciting as the best wine, flowing gently over lips and teeth.H2441H2896H3196H1730H1980H4339H8193H3463H1680 10[Young Woman] I am my lover’s, and he claims me as his own.H1730H8669 11Come, my love, let us go out to the fields and spend the night among the wildflowers.H3212H1730H3318H7704H3885H3723 12Let us get up early and go to the vineyards to see if the grapevines have budded, if the blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love.H7925H3754H7200H1612H6524H5563H6605H7416H5132H5414H1730 13There the mandrakes give off their fragrance, and the finest fruits are at our door, new delights as well as old, which I have saved for you, my lover.H1736H5414H7381H6607H4022H2319H3465H6845H1730

8[Young Woman] Oh, I wish you were my brother, who nursed at my mother’s breasts. Then I could kiss you no matter who was watching, and no one would criticize me.H5414H251H3243H7699H517H4672H2351H5401H936 2I would bring you to my childhood home, and there you would teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, my sweet pomegranate wine.H5090H935H517H1004H3925H8248H7544H3196H6071H7416 3Your left arm would be under my head, and your right arm would embrace me.H8040H7218H3225H2263 4Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right.H7650H1323H3389H5782H5782H160H2654 5[Young Women of Jerusalem] Who is this sweeping in from the desert, leaning on her lover? [Young Woman] I aroused you under the apple tree, where your mother gave you birth, where in great pain she delivered you.H5927H4057H7514H1730H5782H8598H517H2254H2254H3205 6Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame.H7760H2368H3820H2368H2220H160H5794H4194H7068H7186H7585H7565H7565H784H7957 7Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his offer would be utterly scorned.H7227H4325H3201H3518H160H5104H7857H376H5414H1952H1004H160H936H936 8[The Young Woman’s Brothers] We have a little sister too young to have breasts. What will we do for our sister if someone asks to marry her?H6996H269H7699H6213H269H3117H1696 9If she is a virgin, like a wall, we will protect her with a silver tower. But if she is promiscuous, like a swinging door, we will block her door with a cedar bar.H2346H1129H2918H3701H1817H6696H3871H730 10[Young Woman] I was a virgin, like a wall; now my breasts are like towers. When my lover looks at me, he is delighted with what he sees.H2346H7699H4026H5869H4672H7965 11Solomon has a vineyard at Baal-hamon, which he leases out to tenant farmers. Each of them pays a thousand pieces of silver for harvesting its fruit.H8010H3754H1174H5414H3754H5201H376H6529H935H505H3701 12But my vineyard is mine to give, and Solomon need not pay a thousand pieces of silver. But I will give two hundred pieces to those who care for its vines.H3754H6440H8010H505H5201H6529H3967 13[Young Man] O my darling, lingering in the gardens, your companions are fortunate to hear your voice. Let me hear it, too!H3427H1588H2270H7181H6963H8085 14[Young Woman] Come away, my love! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.H1272H1730H1819H6643H6082H354H2022H1314

12[For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by an eight-stringed instrument.] Help, O LORD, for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth!H5329H8067H4210H1732H3467H3068H2623H1584H539H6461H1121H120 2Neighbors lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.H1696H7723H376H7453H2513H8193H3820H3820H1696 3May the LORD cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues.H3068H3772H2513H8193H3956H1696H1419 4They say, "We will lie to our hearts' content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?"H559H3956H1396H8193H113 5The LORD replies, "I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do."H7701H6041H603H34H6965H559H3068H7896H3468H6315 6The LORD's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.H565H3068H2889H565H3701H6884H5948H776H2212H7659 7Therefore, LORD, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation,H8104H3068H5341H2098H1755H5769 8even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.H7563H1980H5439H2149H1121H120H7311