Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
45 (For the one directing upon Shoshannim, for the Bnei Korach. A Maskil. Shir yedidot, i.e., a love song). My lev is stirred with davar tov; I speak my verses to HaMelech; my leshon (tongue) is the et (pen, stylus) of a sofer mahir (ready scribe, skillful writer).
2 (3) Thou art fairer than Bnei Adam; chen (grace, favor) is poured upon Thy sfatayim (lips); therefore Elohim hath blessed Thee l’olam. [T.N. The coming Messianic King is called Elohim [Ps 45:6(7)] just as this coming personage is called El Gibbor in Isa 9:5; see MJ 1:8; The Targumist renders Psa 45:2(3) as a reference to Moshiach.]
6 (7) Thy kisse (throne), O Elohim, is olam va’ed; the shevet (sceptre) of Thy Malchut is a shevet of uprightness.
7 (8) Thou lovest tzedek, and hatest resha; therefore Elohim, Eloheicha, hath anointed Thee with shemen sasson (the oil of gladness) above Thy chaverim.
8 (9) All Thy robes smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia; out of the ivory heikhalim stringed instruments have made Thee glad.
9 (10) Banot Melachim were among Thy ladies of honor; upon Thy Yamin (Right Hand) is stationed the Shegal (Queen consort, spouse of the reigning monarch) in golden jewelry of Ophir.
1 Shir HaShirim, which is Sh’lomo’s
2 Let him kiss me with the neshikot (kisses) of his mouth; for better is dodecha (thy love) than yayin (wine).
3 Tovim is the fragrance of thy shmanim (ointments); thy shem (name) is like shemen (ointment) poured forth; therefore do the alamot love thee [alamot, young unmarried virgins; pl of almah virgin; see Shir HaShirim 6:8; Yeshayah 7:14; Bereshis 24:43; Shemot 2:8; Mishlei 30:19, where the word has this explicit or implicit meaning throughout the Tanakh; see page vii].
4 Draw me; so will we run after thee; the Melech hath brought me into his chadarim (chambers); we will be glad and rejoice in thee; we will extol dodecha (thy love) more than yayin; uprightly have they loved thee.
5 Shechorah (black, dark, sun-blackened) am I, yet lovely, O ye banot Yerushalayim, like the oholim (tents) of Kedar, like the curtains of Sh’lomo.
6 Let your eyes burn not into me because I am black, because the shemesh hath burned its eyes into me; bnei immi (my step-brothers) were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the kramim (vineyards); but mine own kerem (vineyard) have I not kept.
7 O tell me, thou whom my nefesh loveth, where feedest thou? Where makest thou thy flock to lie down at noon? For why should I be as one who veils herself among the edrei chaverecha (the flocks of thy chaverim, fellow companions)?
8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among nashim, go thy way forth by the footprints of the tzon, and feed thy young goats beside the mishkenot haro’im (the tents of the shepherds).
9 O my love, to a susah (mare) among the chariots of Pharaoh do I compare thee.
10 Thy cheeks are lovely with ornaments, thy tzavar (neck) with necklaces.
11 Ornaments of zahav will we make for thee, studded with kesef.
12 While the Melech is at his table, my spikenard perfume has yielded its fragrance.
13 Dodi (my beloved) is to me a sachet of myrrh that lieth in my bosom.
14 Dodi (my beloved) is to me as a cluster of henna blooms in the kramim (vineyards) of Ein-Gedi.
15 See, thou art yafeh (fair), my love; see, thou art fair; thine eynayim are yonim (doves).
16 See, thou art yafeh (handsome), dodi (my beloved), yea, na’im (pleasing); also our couch is verdant.
17 The beams of our bais are cedar, and our rafters are cypress.
1 Ya’akov, eved (servant) of Hashem and of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu Yehoshua; To the Shneym Asar HaShevatim (Twelve Tribes) in the Golus, Shalom! [DEVARIM 32:26]
2 Consider it all simcha, my Achim b’Moshiach, whenever you fall into various nisayonos (tests, trials),
3 Because you have da’as that the emunah you have, when it is tested, produces savlanut (patient endurance).
4 And let savlanut be shleimah in its po’al (work) in order that you may be mevugarim (mature, grown up) and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any one of you is lacking chochmah (wisdom), let him direct tefillah (prayer) and techinot (petitions) to Hashem, the One whose matanot (gifts) are given generously and without grudging, and chochmah will be given to him. [MELACHIM ALEF 3:9,10; MISHLE 2:3-6; TEHILLIM 51:6; DANIEL 1:17; 2:21]
6 But let the tefillah be offered with much bitachon in emunah (faith), in no way doubting. For the doubtful man, wavering in emunah, is like a wave of the yam (sea) being tossed by the wind. [MELACHIM ALEF 18:21]
7 Let not such a one presume that he will receive anything from Adoneinu.
8 He is an ish (man) of double mind, in all his drakhim (ways), mesupak (uncertain, having doubts) and unstable. [TEHILLIM 119:113]
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