Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁹ I will sing a new song to You, O God—sing to You upon a viol, an instrument of ten strings—

¹⁰ Who gives deliverance to kings, rescues David, His servant, from the hurtful sword.

¹¹ Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of strangers, whose mouth talks vanity; and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood,

¹² so that our sons may be as the plants (growing up in their youth) and our daughters as the cornerstones (sculpted in the likeness of a palace);

¹³ so that our corners may be full—abounding with diverse sorts — and that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousand in our streets;

¹⁴ so that our oxen may be strong to labor; so that there is no invasion nor going out nor crying in our streets.

¹⁵ Blessed are the people who are so. Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD. A Psalm of David, of praise

² “I sleep, but my heart wakes. It is the voice of my well-beloved who knocks, saying, ‘Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. For my head is full of dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.’

³ “I have taken off my garment, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet. How shall I soil them?

⁴ “My well-beloved put in his hand by the opening, and my core was moved toward him.

⁵ “I rose up to open to my well-beloved, and my hands did drop down myrrh, and my fingers pure myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt.

⁶ “I opened to my well-beloved, but my well-beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart failed when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he did not answer me.

⁷ “The watchmen who were around the city found me. They struck me and wounded me. The watchmen of the walls took away my veil from me.

⁸ “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my well-beloved, that you tell him that I am lovesick!”

⁹ “O the fairest among women! What is your well-beloved more than other well-beloved? What is your well-beloved more than another lover, that you so charge us?”

¹⁰ “My well-beloved is white and ruddy, chief among ten thousand.

¹¹ “His head is as fine gold, his locks curled and black as a raven.

¹² “His eyes are like doves upon the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fittingly set.

¹³ “His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, and his lips like lilies dropping down pure myrrh.

¹⁴ “His hands are as rings of gold set with the chrysolite, his belly like white ivory covered with sapphires.

¹⁵ “His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold, his face as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

¹⁶ “His mouth is as sweet things, and he is wholly delectable. This is my well-beloved, and this is my lover, O daughters of Jerusalem!”

¹⁷ “O fairest among women! Where has your well-beloved gone? Where has your well-beloved turned aside, so that we may seek him with you?”

6 “My well-beloved has gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and gather lilies.

² “I am my well-beloved’s. And my well-beloved is mine, who feeds among the lilies.”

³ “You, my love, are beautiful as Tirzah, as comely as Jerusalem, as terrible as an army with banners.

¹⁹ For this is grace: if anyone - for the sake of conscience toward God - endures grief, suffering wrongly.

²⁰ For what praise is it, if when you are mistreated for your faults, you take it patiently? But if you suffer when you do well, and take it patiently, this is acceptable to God.

²¹ For you are called to this. For Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you could follow His steps.

²² “He did no sin. Nor was there guile found in His mouth.”

²³ When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed it to Him Who judges righteously.

²⁴ He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sin, would live in righteousness. “By His wounds you were healed.”

²⁵ For you were as sheep, going astray, but now are returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.