Others

6 Where has your beloved gone,

O cmost beautiful among women?

Where has your beloved turned,

that we may seek him with you?

Together in the Garden of Love

She

2  My beloved has gone down to his qgarden

to rthe beds of spices,

to sgraze1 in the gardens

and to gather tlilies.

3  uI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;

he grazes among the lilies.

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

He

4  You are beautiful as vTirzah, wmy love,

xlovely as yJerusalem,

zawesome as an army with banners.

5  Turn away your eyes from me,

for they overwhelm me—

aYour hair is like a flock of goats

leaping down the slopes of Gilead.

6  bYour teeth are like a flock of ewes

that have come up from the washing;

all of them bear twins;

not one among them has lost its young.

7  cYour cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.

8  There are dsixty equeens and eighty econcubines,

and fvirgins without number.

9  My gdove, my hperfect one, is the only one,

the only one of her mother,

pure to iher who bore her.

jThe young women saw her and called her blessed;

ethe queens and econcubines also, and they praised her.

10  k“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,

beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,

lawesome as an army with banners?”

She

11  I went down to the nut orchard

to look at mthe blossoms of the valley,

nto see whether the vines had budded,

whether the pomegranates were in bloom.

12  oBefore I was aware, my desire set me

among pthe chariots of my kinsman, a prince.2

Others

13  3 Return, return, O qShulammite,

return, return, that we may look upon you.

He

Why should you look upon qthe Shulammite,

as upon ra dance before stwo armies?4

7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,

O tnoble daughter!

Your rounded thighs are like ujewels,

the work of va master hand.

2  Your navel is a rounded bowl

that never lacks mixed wine.

Your belly is a heap of wheat,

encircled with wlilies.

3  xYour two breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle.

4  Your yneck is like an ivory tower.

Your zeyes are pools in aHeshbon,

by the gate of Bath-rabbim.

Your nose is like a tower of bLebanon,

which looks toward cDamascus.

5  Your head crowns you like eCarmel,

and your fflowing locks are like purple;

a king is held captive in the tresses.

6  gHow beautiful and hpleasant you are,

O loved one, with all your delights!1

7  Your stature is like a palm tree,

and your breasts are like its clusters.

8  I say I will climb the palm tree

and lay hold of its fruit.

Oh may your breasts be like iclusters of the vine,

and the scent of your breath like apples,

9  and your jmouth2 like the best wine.

She

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,

gliding over lips and teeth.3

10  kI am my beloved’s,

land his desire is for me.

The Bride Gives Her Love

11  mCome, my beloved,

let us go out into the fields

and lodge in the villages;4

12  let us go out early to the vineyards

nand see whether the vines have budded,

whether othe grape blossoms have opened

and the pomegranates are in bloom.

There I will give you my love.

13  pThe mandrakes give forth fragrance,

and beside our doors are all choice fruits,

qnew as well as old,

which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

Longing for Her Beloved

8 Oh that you were like a brother to me

who nursed at my mother’s breasts!

If I found you outside, I would kiss you,

and none would despise me.

2  I would lead you and rbring you

into the house of my mother—

she who used to teach me.

I would give you sspiced wine to drink,

the juice of my pomegranate.

3  tHis left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me!

4  I uadjure you, O vdaughters of Jerusalem,

wthat you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

5  xWho is that coming up from the wilderness,

leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.

There your mother was in labor with you;

there she who bore you was in labor.

6  Set me as a seal upon your heart,

as ya seal upon your arm,

for zlove is strong as death,

ajealousy1 is fierce as the grave.2

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

the very bflame of the Lord.

7  Many waters cannot quench love,

neither can floods drown it.

If a man offered for love

all the wealth of his chouse,

he3 would be utterly despised.

Final Advice

Others

8  We have a little sister,

and she dhas no breasts.

What shall we do for our sister

on the day when she is spoken for?

9  If she is a wall,

we will build on her a battlement of silver,

but if she is a door,

we will enclose her with eboards of cedar.

She

10  fI was a wall,

and my gbreasts were like towers;

then I was in his eyes

as one who finds4 peace.

11  Solomon had ha vineyard at Baal-hamon;

he ilet out the vineyard to jkeepers;

each one was to bring for its fruit ka thousand pieces of silver.

12  My vineyard, my very own, is before me;

you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,

and lthe keepers of the fruit two hundred.

He

13  mO you who dwell in the gardens,

with ncompanions listening for your voice;

olet me hear it.

She

14  pMake haste, my beloved,

and be qlike a gazelle

or a young stag

on rthe mountains of spices.

Isaiah

Introduction

Isaiah lived during the decline of Israel in the shadow of Assyria. He spoke the word of God to a people who were “deaf and blind” (see 6:10), who refused to listen to his warnings of looming disaster. He warned that the sin of the people of Judah would bring God’s judgment, yet he also declared that God is sovereign and would use Cyrus the Persian to return them from exile. The book speaks of a “servant,” a “man of sorrows,” who would be “pierced for our transgressions,” accomplishing God’s purposes of salvation (52:13–53:12). The final chapters give a beautiful description of a new creation in which God will rule as King, judging the wicked and establishing eternal peace. Isaiah prophesied about 740–700 b.c. (possibly till the 680s).