Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
9 God, I sing a new song to You, on a ten-string harp
I sing praises to You—
10 who gives salvation to kings,
who rescues Your servant David from the evil sword.
11 Snatch me, deliver me
out of the hand of foreigners,
whose mouth speaks falsehood,
whose right hand is a right hand of deceit.
12 Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth,
our daughters like corner pillars carved for the construction of a palace.
13 Our storehouses are full,
supplying every kind of produce.
Our flocks increase by thousands
and ten thousands in our fields.
14 Our oxen bear a heavy load.
There is no breach,
no going into captivity,
no outcry in our streets.
15 Happy are such a people!
Blessed are the people whose God is Adonai!
2 I sleep, but my heart is awake.
A voice! My lover is knocking!
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my perfect one!
For my head is drenched with dew,
my locks with dewdrops of night.”
3 I have stripped off my coat.
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet.
How can I soil them?
4 My lover extended his hand through the opening
—my heart yearned for him.
5 I rose to open for my lover.
My hands dripped with myrrh,
yes, my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.
6 I opened to my lover—
but my lover had departed,
he was gone!
My soul went out to him when he spoke.
I searched for him, but did not find him.
I called him, but he did not answer me.
7 The guards making rounds in the city found me.
They beat me, bruised me.
The guards on the walls took my veil from me.
8 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you,
if you should find my lover,
what will you tell him?
That I am sick from love!
9 How is your lover different from other lovers,
O most beautiful among women?
How is your lover different from other lovers
that you charge us so?
10 My lover is dazzling and ruddy,
standing out among ten thousand.
11 His head is purest gold,
his hair is wavy,
black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
washed with milk,
mounted in their settings.
13 His cheeks are like a bed of spice,
towers of sweet-scented perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with liquid myrrh.
14 His hands are rods of gold set with jasper.
His abdomen is carved ivory
inlaid with sapphires.
15 His legs are pillars of alabaster
set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon—
excellent like the cedars.
16 His mouth is sweetness.
Yes, he is totally desirable.
This is my lover! Yes, this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
6 Where has your lover gone,
most beautiful among women?
Where has your lover turned,
so we may seek him with you?
2 My lover went down to his garden,
to the beds of balsam
to graze his flocks in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.
He browses among the lilies.
19 For this finds favor if, for the sake of conscience toward God, someone endures grief from suffering undeservedly. 20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and get a beating, you endure? But if you endure when you do good and suffer for it, this finds favor with God. 21 For you were called to this, because Messiah also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in His footsteps:
22 “He committed no sin,
nor was any deceit found in His mouth.”[a]
23 When He was abused, He did not return the abuse.[b] While suffering, He made no threats. Instead, He kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously. 24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we, removed from sins, might live for righteousness. “By His wounds you were healed.”[c]
25 For you like sheep were going astray,[d]
but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.