Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
9 [a]I will sing a new song to you, my God;
on a ten-stringed lyre I will play music for you.[b]
10 You grant victory to kings
and deliverance to your servant David from the cruel sword.[c]
11 Deliver me and rescue me
from the hands of foreign foes
whose mouths utter lies
and whose right hands are raised to swear to untruths.[d]
12 [e]May our sons in their youth
be like carefully nurtured plants,
and may our daughters be like pillars
designed to adorn a palace.[f]
13 May our barns be filled
with every kind of crop.
May our sheep increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our fields,[g]
14 and may our cattle be well fed.[h]
May there be no breach in our walls,
no going into exile,
no cries of distress in our streets.
15 Blessed are the people for whom this is true;
blessed[i] are the people whose God is the Lord.
Companions:
Eat, friends, and drink deeply,
until you are drunk with love.[a]
Fourth Poem
I Sought Him, but I Could Not Find Him
Open to Me[b]
Bride:
2 I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.
Listen! My beloved is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my beloved,
my dove, my perfect one.
For my head is drenched with dew,[c]
my hair with the wetness of the night.”
3 I have taken off my robe;
must I put it on again?
I have bathed my feet;
must I soil them again?[d]
4 My beloved thrust his hand through the opening in the door,[e]
and my heart began to tremble.
5 I arose to open to my beloved
with myrrh dripping from my hands;
the liquid myrrh from my fingers
ran onto the handle of the bolt.
6 I opened to my beloved,
but he had turned away and was gone;
my heart sank at his disappearance.
I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called out to him, but he did not answer.[f]
I Am Sick with Love[g]
7 The watchmen[h] came upon me
as they made their rounds of the city.
They beat me and wounded me
and took my cloak from me,
those guardians of the walls.
8 I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem,
if you should find my beloved,
please tell him this:
that I am sick with love.
Companions:
9 In what way is your beloved better than any other,
O fairest of women?
In what way is your beloved better than any other
that you lay this charge upon us?
Bride:
10 [i]My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
one who would stand out in a group of ten thousand.
11 His head is golden, of the purest gold;
his hair is like palm branches,
black as the raven.
12 His eyes are like doves[j]
by water streams,
bathed in milk,
and mounted like jewels.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spices
pouring forth fragrant scents.
His lips are like lilies,[k]
distilling choice myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold
adorned with jewels.
His body is a block of ivory
covered with sapphires.
15 His legs are pillars of marble
set in sockets of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
as imposing as the cedars.
16 His mouth is most sweet,
and he is totally desirable.
Such is my beloved and such is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
Chapter 6
I Belong to My Beloved[l]
Companions:
1 Where has your beloved gone,
O loveliest of women?
In what direction has your beloved turned
so that we may join you in searching for him?
Bride:
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to browse in his garden
and to gather lilies.
3 I belong to my beloved, and my beloved is mine;[m]
he browses among the lilies.
19 It is a sign of grace if you endure the pain of unjust suffering because of your awareness of God.
20 What credit do you deserve if you are patient when you are beaten for doing wrong? However, if you are patient when you do what is right and suffer for it, you have earned merit with God.
21 [a]This, in fact, is what you have been called to do, because Christ himself suffered for you and left an example for you to follow in his footsteps.
22 He committed no sin,[b]
and no deceit was found on his lips.
23 When he was abused, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats, but he placed his trust in the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live in righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep who had gone astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.[c]
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