Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

16 Protect me, God,
    because I trust in you.
² I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord.
    Every good thing I have comes from you.”
³ There are godly people in the world.
    I enjoy them.
⁴ But those who turn to idols will have much pain.
I will not offer blood to those idols.
    I won’t even speak their names.

⁸ I hear my lover’s voice.
    He comes jumping across the mountains.
    He comes skipping over the hills!
⁹ My lover is like a gazelle or a young deer.
    Look, he stands behind our wall.
He stares in through the windows,
    looking through the blinds.
¹⁰ My lover spoke. He said to me,
    “Get up, my darling.
    Let’s go away, my beautiful one.
¹¹ Look, the winter is past.
    The rains are over and gone.
¹² Blossoms appear through all the land.
    The time has come to sing.
    The cooing of doves is heard in our land.
¹³ There are young figs on the fig trees.
    The blossoms on the vines smell sweet.
Get up, my darling.
    Let’s go away, my beautiful one.”

¹⁴ My beloved is like a dove that hides in the cracks of the rock.
    She hides in the secret places of the cliff.
Show me your face.
    Let me hear your voice.
Your voice is very sweet,
    and your face is lovely.
¹⁵ Catch the foxes for us—
    the little foxes that ruin the vineyards.
    Our vineyards are in blossom.