1 Bride: On my bed, throughout the night, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, and did not find him.
2 I will rise up, and I will circle through the city. Through the side streets and thoroughfares, I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, and did not find him.
3 The watchers who guard the city found me: “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 When I had passed by them a little, I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not release him, until I would bring him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who bore me.
5 Groom to Chorus: I bind you by oath, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the does and the stags of the open field, not to disturb or awaken the beloved, until she wills.
6 Chorus to Groom: Who is she, who ascends through the desert, like a staff of smoke from the aromatics of myrrh, and frankincense, and every powder of the perfumer?
7 Chorus to Bride: Lo, sixty strong ones, out of all the strongest in Israel, stand watch at the bed of Solomon,
8 all holding swords and well-trained in warfare, each one’s weapon upon his thigh, because of fears in the night.
9 Bride to Chorus: King Solomon made himself a portable throne from the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its columns of silver, the reclining place of gold, the ascent of purple; the middle he covered well, out of charity for the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 O daughters of Zion, go forth and see king Solomon with the diadem with which his mother crowned him, on the day of his espousal, on the day of the rejoicing of his heart.
1 Groom to Bride: How beautiful you are, my love, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are those of a dove, except for what is hidden within. Your hair is like flocks of goats, which ascend along the mountain of Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like flocks of shorn sheep, which ascend from the washing, each one with its identical twin, and not one among them is barren.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your eloquence is sweetness. Like a piece of pomegranate, so are your cheeks, except for what is hidden within.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David, which was built with ramparts: a thousand shields are hanging from it, all the armor of the strong.
5 Your two breasts are like two young does, twins that pasture among the lilies.
6 Until the day rises and the shadows decline, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.
7 You are totally beautiful, my love, and there is no blemish in you.
8 Advance from Lebanon, my spouse, advance from Lebanon, advance. You shall be crowned at the head of Amana, near the summit of Senir and Hermon, by the dens of lions, by the mountains of leopards.
9 You have wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse. You have wounded my heart with one look of your eyes, and with one lock of hair on your neck.
10 How beautiful are your breasts, my sister, my spouse! Your breasts are more beautiful than wine, and the fragrance of your ointments is above all aromatic oils.
11 Your lips, my spouse, are a dripping honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue. And the fragrance of your garments is like the odor of frankincense.
12 An enclosed garden is my sister, my spouse: an enclosed garden, a sealed fountain.
13 You send forth a paradise of pomegranates along with the fruits of the orchard: Cypress grapes, with aromatic oil;
14 aromatic oil and saffron; sweet cane and cinnamon, with all the trees of Lebanon; myrrh and aloe, with all the best ointments.
15 The fountain of the gardens is a well of living waters, which flow forcefully from Lebanon.
16 Rise up, north wind, and advance, south wind. Send a breeze through my garden, and carry its aromatic scents.
1 Bride: May my beloved enter into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees.
2 Groom to Bride: I have arrived in my garden, O my sister, my spouse. I have harvested my myrrh, with my aromatic oils. I have eaten the honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, O most beloved.
3 Bride: I sleep, yet my heart watches. The voice of my beloved knocking:
4 Groom to Bride: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my immaculate one. For my head is full of dew, and the locks of my hair are full of the drops of the night.
5 Bride: I have taken off my tunic; how shall I be clothed in it? I have washed my feet; how shall I spoil them?
6 My beloved put his hand through the window, and my inner self was moved by his touch.
7 I rose up in order to open to my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers were full of the finest myrrh.
8 I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved. But he had turned aside and had gone away. My soul melted when he spoke. I sought him, and did not find him. I called, and he did not answer me.
9 The keepers who circulate through the city found me. They struck me, and wounded me. The keepers of the walls took my veil away from me.
10 I bind you by oath, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, announce to him that I languish through love.
11 Chorus to Bride: What kind of beloved is your beloved, O most beautiful among women? What kind of beloved is your beloved, so that you would bind us by oath?
12 Bride: My beloved is white and ruddy, elect among thousands.
13 His head is like the finest gold. His locks are like the heights of palm trees, and as black as a raven.
14 His eyes are like doves, which have been washed with milk over rivulets of waters, and which reside near plentiful streams.
15 His cheeks are like a courtyard of aromatic plants, sown by perfumers. His lips are like lilies, dripping with the best myrrh.
16 His hands are smoothed gold, full of hyacinths. His abdomen is ivory, accented with sapphires.
17 His legs are columns of marble, which have been established over bases of gold. His appearance is like that of Lebanon, elect like the cedars.
18 His throat is most sweet, and he is entirely desirable. Such is my beloved, and he is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
19 Chorus to Bride: Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? To where has your beloved turned aside, so that we may seek him with you?
1 Bride: My beloved has descended to his garden, to the courtyard of aromatic plants, in order to pasture in the gardens and gather the lilies.
2 I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me. He pastures among the lilies.
3 Groom to Bride: My love, you are beautiful: sweet and graceful, like Jerusalem; terrible, like an army in battle array.
4 Avert your eyes from me, for they have caused me fly away. Your hair is like a flock of goats, which have appeared out of Gilead.
5 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep, which have ascended from the washing, each one with its identical twin, and not one among them is barren.
6 Like the skin of a pomegranate, so are your cheeks, except for your hiddenness.
7 There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens without number.
8 One is my dove, my perfect one. One is her mother; elect is she who bore her. The daughters saw her, and they proclaimed her most blessed. The queens and concubines saw her, and they praised her.
9 Chorus to Groom: Who is she, who advances like the rising dawn, as beautiful as the moon, as elect as the sun, as terrible as an army in battle array?
10 Bride: I descended to the garden of nuts, in order to see the fruits of the steep valleys, and to examine whether the vineyard had flourished and the pomegranates had produced buds.
11 I did not understand. My soul was stirred up within me because of the chariots of Amminadab.
12 Chorus to Bride: Return, return, O Sulamitess. Return, return, so that we may consider you.
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64 And he went to meet them. But he left his brother Simon behind in the countryside.
65 And Simon took a position against Bethzur, and he assailed it for many days, and he closed them in.
66 And they asked him to accept a pledge, and he granted this to them. And he cast them out of there, and he seized the city, and he placed a garrison in it.
67 And Jonathan and his camp took a position by the water of Gennesaret, and, before first light, they were standing watch in the plains of Hazor.
68 And behold, an army of foreigners met him in the plains. And they set up an ambush against him in the mountains. But he met them from the opposite direction.
69 Yet those lying in ambush then rose up from their places and joined them in combat.
70 And all those who were from Jonathan’s side fled, and not one of them was left, except Mattathias, the son of Absalom, and Judas, the son of Chalphi, the leader of military training.
71 And so Jonathan tore his garments, and he placed dirt on his head, and he prayed.
72 And Jonathan turned back toward them in battle, and he put them to flight, and they fought.
73 And when those from his side, who had fled, saw this, they returned to him, and with him they all pursued them, even to Kadesh, to their camp, and they even passed beyond there.
74 And there fell from the foreigners on that day three thousand men. And Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.
1 Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord:
2 Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
3 If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it.
4 For with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his word:
1 May fraternal charity remain in you.
2 And do not be willing to forget hospitality. For by it, certain persons, without realizing it, have received Angels as guests.
3 Remember those who are prisoners, just as if you were imprisoned with them, and those who endure hardships, just as if you were in their place.
4 May marriage be honorable in every way, and may the marriage bed be immaculate. For God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
5 Let your behavior be without avarice; be content with what you are offered. For he himself has said, “I will not abandon you, and I will not neglect you.”
6 So then, we may confidently say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me.”
7 Remember your leaders, who have spoken the Word of God to you, whose faith you imitate, by observing the goal of their way of life:
8 Jesus Christ, yesterday and today; Jesus Christ forever.
9 Do not be led away by changing or strange doctrines. And it is best for the heart to be sustained by grace, not by foods. For the latter have not been as useful to those who walked by them.
10 We have an altar: those who serve in the tabernacle have no authority to eat from it.
11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is carried into the Holy of holies by the high priest, on behalf of sin, are burned outside the camp.
12 Because of this, Jesus, too, in order to sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered outside the gate.
13 And so, let us go forth to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 For in this place, we have no everlasting city; instead, we seek one in the future.
15 Therefore, through him, let us offer the sacrifice of continual praise to God, which is the fruit of lips confessing his name.
16 But do not be willing to forget good works and fellowship. For God is deserving of such sacrifices.
17 Obey your leaders and be subject to them. For they watch over you, as if to render an account of your souls. So then, may they do this with joy, and not with grief. Otherwise, it would not be as helpful to you.
18 Pray for us. For we trust that we have a good conscience, being willing to conduct ourselves well in all things.
19 And I beg you, all the more, to do this, so that I may be quickly returned to you.
20 Then may the God of peace, who led back from the dead that great Pastor of sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, with the blood of the eternal testament,
21 equip you with all goodness, so that you may do his will. May he accomplish in you whatever is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom is glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 And I beg you, brothers, that you may permit this word of consolation, especially since I have written to you with few words.
23 Know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he arrives soon, then I will see you with him.
24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. The brothers from Italy greet you.
25 Grace be with you all. Amen.
