Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
9 O God, I will sing a new song to you.
With a lyre of ten strings I will sing praise to you,
10 who gives victory to kings,
who rescues David his servant
from the evil sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouth speaks falsely,
and whose right hand is a false right hand,
12 that our sons may be like plants,
full grown in their youth,
our daughters like corner pillars,
carved in the style of a palace,
13 that our granaries may be full,
providing produce of all kinds,[a]
that our sheep may produce by the thousands,
by the tens of thousands in our open fields,
14 that our cattle may be pregnant;
that there be no breach in our walls,
and no going out in exile,
and no outcry in our plazas.
15 Blessed are the people who have it thus.
Blessed are the people whose God is Yahweh.
Maiden’s Dream: Seeking and Not Finding
2 I was asleep but[a] my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved knocking![b]
“Open to me, my sister, my beloved,
my dove, my perfect one!
For my head is full of dew,
my hair drenched from the moist night air.”[c]
3 I have taken off my tunic, must I put it on?[d]
I have bathed my feet, must I soil them?[e]
4 My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,
and my inmost yearned for him.
5 I myself arose to open to my beloved;
my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh
upon the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened myself to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone;[f]
my heart sank[g] when he turned away.[h]
I sought him, but I did not find him;
I called him, but he did not answer me.
7 The sentinels making rounds in the city found me;
they beat me, they wounded me;
they took my cloak[i] away from me—
those sentinels on the walls![j]
Adjuration Refrain
8 I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,[k]
if you find my beloved, what will you tell him?
Tell him that I am lovesick![l]
Maiden’s Praise of Her Beloved
9 How is your beloved better than another lover,[m]
O most beautiful among women?
How is your beloved better than another lover, [n]
that you adjure us thus?
10 My beloved is radiant and ruddy,[o]
distinguished among[p] ten thousand.
11 His head is gold, refined gold;
his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves beside springs[q] of water,
bathed in milk, set like mounted jewels.[r][s]
13 His cheeks are like beds of spice, a tower of fragrances;
his lips are lilies dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods[t][u] of gold engraved with[v] jewels;
his belly[w] is polished ivory covered with sapphires.[x]
15 His legs are columns of alabaster,[y] set on bases of gold;
his appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.[z]
16 His mouth[aa] is sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved;
this is my friend, O young women of Jerusalem.[ab]
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned
that we may seek him with you?
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the garden bed of the spice,
to pasture his flock and to gather lilies in the garden.
Mutual Possession Refrain
3 I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me;[ac]
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
19 For this finds favor, if because of consciousness of God someone endures sorrows while[a] suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you[b] sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if you endure when you[c] do good and suffer for it, this finds favor with God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his footsteps, 22 who did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth,[d] 23 who when he[e] was reviled, did not revile in return; when[f] suffering, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly, 24 who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we may die to sins and live to righteousness, by whose wounds you were healed. 25 For you were going astray like sheep, but you have turned back now to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
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