7 [Then her companions began noticing and commenting on the attractiveness of her person] How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden! Your rounded limbs are like jeweled chains, the work of a master hand.

² Your body is like a round goblet in which no mixed wine is wanting. Your abdomen is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.

³ Your two breasts are like two fawns, the twins of a gazelle.

⁴ Your neck is like a tower of ivory, your eyes like the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.

⁵ Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple. [Then seeing the king watching the girl in absorbed admiration, the speaker added] The king is held captive by its tresses.

⁶ [The king came forward, saying] How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, with your delights!

⁷ Your stature is like that of a palm tree, and your bosom like its clusters [of dates, declared the king].

⁸ I resolve that I will climb the palm tree; I will grasp its branches. Let your breasts be like clusters of the grapevine, and the scent of your breath like apples,

⁹ And your kisses like the best wine—[then the Shulammite interrupted] that goes down smoothly and sweetly for my beloved [shepherd, kisses] gliding over his lips while he sleeps!

¹⁰ [She proudly said] I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me!^(A)

¹¹ [She said] Come, my beloved! Let us go forth into the field, let us lodge in the villages.^(B)

¹² Let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened, and whether the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

¹³ The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and over our doors are all manner of choice fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved!

8 [Looking forward to the shepherd’s arrival, the eager girl pictures their meeting and says] Oh, that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I should find you without, I would kiss you, yes, and none would despise me [for it].^(A)

² I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, who would instruct me. I would cause you to drink spiced wine and of the juice of my pomegranates.

³ [Then musingly she added] Oh, that his left hand were under my head and that his right hand embraced me!^(B)

⁴ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you never [again attempt to] stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

⁵ Who is this who comes up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved? [And as they sighted the home of her childhood, the bride said] Under the apple tree I awakened you; there your mother gave you birth, there she was in travail and bore you.

⁶ Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as hard and cruel as Sheol (the place of the dead). Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame [the very flame of the Lord]!^(C)

⁷ Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would offer all the goods of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned and despised.

⁸ [Gathered with her family and the wedding guests in her mother’s cottage, the bride said to her stepbrothers, When I was a little girl, you said] We have a little sister and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for in marriage?

⁹ If she is a wall [discreet and womanly], we will build upon her a turret [a dowry] of silver; but if she is a door [bold and flirtatious], we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

¹⁰ [Well] I am a wall [with battlements], and my breasts are like the towers of it. Then was I in [the king’s] eyes as one [to be respected and to be allowed] to find peace.

¹¹ Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; everyone was to bring him a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit.

¹² You, O Solomon, can have your thousand [pieces of silver], and those who tend the fruit of it two hundred; but my vineyard, which is mine [with all its radiant joy], is before me!

¹³ O you who dwell in the gardens, your companions have been listening to your voice—now cause me to hear it.

¹⁴ [Joyfully the radiant bride turned to him, the one altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand to her soul, and with unconcealed eagerness to begin her life of sweet companionship with him, she answered] Make haste, my beloved, and come quickly, like a gazelle or a young hart [and take me to our waiting home] upon the mountains of spices!

Psalm 102

A Prayer of the afflicted; when he is overwhelmed and faint and pours out his complaint to God.

¹ Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to You.

² Hide not Your face from me in the day when I am in distress! Incline Your ear to me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily.

³ For my days consume away like smoke, and my bones burn like a firebrand or like a hearth.

⁴ My heart is smitten like grass and withered, so that [in absorption] I forget to eat my food.

⁵ By reason of my loud groaning [from suffering and trouble] my flesh cleaves to my bones.

⁶ I am like a melancholy pelican or vulture of the wilderness; I am like a [desolate] owl of the waste places.

⁷ I am sleepless and lie awake [mourning], like a bereaved sparrow alone on the housetop.

⁸ My adversaries taunt and reproach me all the day; and they who are angry with me use my name as a curse.

⁹ For I have eaten the ashes [in which I sat] as if they were bread and have mingled my drink with weeping

¹⁰ Because of Your indignation and Your wrath, for You have taken me up and cast me away.

¹¹ My days are like an evening shadow that stretches out and declines [with the sun]; and I am withered like grass.

¹² But You, O Lord, are enthroned forever; and the fame of Your name endures to all generations.

¹³ You will arise and have mercy and loving-kindness for Zion, for it is time to have pity and compassion for her; yes, the set time has come [the moment designated].^(A)

¹⁴ For Your servants take [melancholy] pleasure in the stones [of her ruins] and show pity for her dust.

¹⁵ So the nations shall fear and worshipfully revere the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory.^(B)

¹⁶ When the Lord builds up Zion, He will appear in His glory;

¹⁷ He will regard the plea of the destitute and will not despise their prayer.

¹⁸ Let this be recorded for the generation yet unborn, that a people yet to be created shall praise the Lord.

¹⁹ For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold the earth,

²⁰ To hear the sighing and groaning of the prisoner, to loose those who are appointed to death,

²¹ So that men may declare the name of the Lord in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem

²² When peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to worship and serve the Lord.

²³ He has afflicted and weakened my strength, humbling and bringing me low [with sorrow] in the way; He has shortened my days [aging me prematurely].

²⁴ I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days, You Whose years continue throughout all generations.

²⁵ At the beginning You existed and laid the foundations of the earth; the heavens are the work of Your hands.

²⁶ They shall perish, but You shall remain and endure; yes, all of them shall wear out and become old like a garment. Like clothing You shall change them, and they shall be changed and pass away.

²⁷ But You remain the same, and Your years shall have no end.^(C)

²⁸ The children of Your servants shall dwell safely and continue, and their descendants shall be established before You.