Song of Solomon 7

Chapter 7

1 tHow beautiful are your sandaled feet,
O queenly maiden.
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of a skilled craftsman.2 Your navel is perfectly formed
like a goblet filled with mixed wine.
Between your thighs lies a mound of wheat
bordered with lilies.3 Your breasts are like two fawns,
twin fawns of a gazelle.4 Your 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.5 Your head is as majestic as Mount Carmel,
and the sheen of your hair radiates royalty.
The king is held captive by its tresses.6 Oh, how beautiful you are!
How pleasing, my love, how full of delights!7 You are slender like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters of fruit.8 I 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.9 May your kisses be as exciting as the best wine,
flowing gently over lips and teeth.t

Young Woman

10 I am my lover’s,
and he claims me as his own.11 Come, my love, let us go out to the fields
and spend the night among the wildflowers.t12 Let 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.13 There 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.

Song of Solomon 8

Chapter 8

Young Woman

1 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.2 I would bring you to my childhood home,
and there you would teach me.t
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
my sweet pomegranate wine.3 Your left arm would be under my head,
and your right arm would embrace me.4 Promise me, O women of Jerusalem,
not to awaken love until the time is right.t

Young Women of Jerusalem

5 Who is this sweeping in from the desert,
leaning on her lover?
I aroused you under the apple tree,
where your mother gave you birth,
where in great pain she delivered you.

Young Woman

6 Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
its jealousyt as enduring as the grave.t
Love flashes like fire,
the brightest kind of flame.7 Many 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.

The Young Woman’s Brothers

8 We have a little sister
too young to have breasts.
What will we do for our sister
if someone asks to marry her?9 If 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.

Young Woman

10 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.11 Solomon has a vineyard at Baal-hamon,
which he leases out to tenant farmers.
Each of them pays a thousand pieces of silvert
for harvesting its fruit.12 But 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.

Young Man

13 O my darling, lingering in the gardens,
your companions are fortunate to hear your voice.
Let me hear it, too!

Young Woman

14 Come away, my love! Be like a gazelle
or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

Isaiah 1

Chapter 1

1 These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. He saw these visions during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.t

A Message for Rebellious Judah

2 Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth!
This is what the LORD says:
“The children I raised and cared for
have rebelled against me.3 Even an ox knows its owner,
and a donkey recognizes its master’s care—
but Israel doesn’t know its master.
My people don’t recognize my care for them.”4 Oh, what a sinful nation they are—
loaded down with a burden of guilt.
They are evil people,
corrupt children who have rejected the LORD.
They have despised the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.5 Why do you continue to invite punishment?
Must you rebel forever?
Your head is injured,
and your heart is sick.6 You are battered from head to foot—
covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds—
without any soothing ointments or bandages.7 Your country lies in ruins,
and your towns are burned.
Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes
and destroy everything they see.8 Beautiful Jerusalemt stands abandoned
like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard,
like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest,
like a helpless city under siege.9 If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies
had not spared a few of us,t
we would have been wiped out like Sodom,
destroyed like Gomorrah.10 Listen to the LORD, you leaders of “Sodom.”
Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.”11 “What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?”
says the LORD.
“I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fattened cattle.
I get no pleasure from the blood
of bulls and lambs and goats.12 When you come to worship me,
who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony?13 Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts;
the incense of your offerings disgusts me!
As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath
and your special days for fasting—
they are all sinful and false.
I want no more of your pious meetings.14 I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals.
They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!15 When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look.
Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen,
for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.16 Wash yourselves and be clean!
Get your sins out of my sight.
Give up your evil ways.17 Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans.
Fight for the rights of widows.18 “Come now, let’s settle this,”
says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I will make them as white as wool.19 If you will only obey me,
you will have plenty to eat.20 But if you turn away and refuse to listen,
you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies.
I, the LORD, have spoken!”

Unfaithful Jerusalem

21 See how Jerusalem, once so faithful,
has become a prostitute.
Once the home of justice and righteousness,
she is now filled with murderers.22 Once like pure silver,
you have become like worthless slag.
Once so pure,
you are now like watered-down wine.23 Your leaders are rebels,
the companions of thieves.
All of them love bribes
and demand payoffs,
but they refuse to defend the cause of orphans
or fight for the rights of widows.24 Therefore, the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,
the Mighty One of Israel, says,
“I will take revenge on my enemies
and pay back my foes!25 I will raise my fist against you.
I will melt you down and skim off your slag.
I will remove all your impurities.26 Then I will give you good judges again
and wise counselors like you used to have.
Then Jerusalem will again be called the Home of Justice
and the Faithful City.”27 Zion will be restored by justice;
those who repent will be revived by righteousness.28 But rebels and sinners will be completely destroyed,
and those who desert the LORD will be consumed.29 You will be ashamed of your idol worship
in groves of sacred oaks.
You will blush because you worshiped
in gardens dedicated to idols.30 You will be like a great tree with withered leaves,
like a garden without water.31 The strongest among you will disappear like straw;
their evil deeds will be the spark that sets it on fire.
They and their evil works will burn up together,
and no one will be able to put out the fire.