Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁹ I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God; upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto Thee.

¹⁰ It is He that giveth salvation unto kings, who delivereth David His servant from the hurtful sword.

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

¹² that our sons may be as plants full grown in their youth, that our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude of a palace;

¹³ that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store, that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets;

¹⁴ that our oxen may be strong to labor, that there be no breaking in, nor going out, that there be no complaining in our streets.

¹⁵ Happy is that people for whom such is the case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

² “I sleep, but my heart waketh; it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, ‘Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night.’

³ I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

⁴ My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for him.

⁵ I rose up to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

⁶ I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed when he spoke; I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

⁷ The watchmen that went about the city found me. They smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

⁸ I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him that I am sick with love.”

⁹ “What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?”

¹⁰ “My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

¹¹ His head is as the most fine gold; his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

¹² His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

¹³ His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers; his lips like lilies, dropping sweetsmelling myrrh.

¹⁴ His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl; his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

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

¹⁶ His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”

6 “Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with thee?”

² “My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies.

³ I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine; he feedeth among the lilies.”

¹⁹ For this is thankworthy: if a man, because of his conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

²⁰ For what glory is it if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

²¹ For even unto this were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps,

²² “who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth”;

²³ who when He was reviled, reviled not in return; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously;

²⁴ who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.

²⁵ For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.