Study Desk

I belong to the man I love, and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

[Chorus] Where has your darling gone, you most beautiful of women? Which way did your darling turn, so that we can help you find him? [She] My darling went down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies. I belong to the man I love, and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies. [He] You are as beautiful as Tirtzah, my love, as lovely as Yerushalayim, but formidable as an army marching under banners. Turn your eyes away from me, because they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Gil‘ad. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that have just come up from being washed; each of them is matched, and none of them is missing. Your cheeks are like a pomegranate split open behind your veil. There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, as well as young women beyond number; but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, her mother's only child, the darling of the one who bore her. The daughters see her and call her happy; the queens and concubines praise her. "Who is this, shining forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun" — but formidable as an army marching under banners? [She] I had gone down to the nut orchard to see the fresh green plants in the valley, to see if the vine had budded, or if the pomegranate trees were in bloom. Before I knew it, I found myself in a chariot, and with me was a prince.

I belong to my darling, and his desire is for me.

His left arm would be under my head and his right arm around me.

No amount of water can quench love, torrents cannot drown it. If someone gave all the wealth in his house for love, he would gain only utter contempt.

[She] I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; so in his view I am like one who brings peace.

Many peoples will go and say, "Come, let's go up to the mountain of Adonai , to the house of the God of Ya‘akov! He will teach us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah, the word of Adonai from Yerushalayim.

Their land is full of idols; everyone worships the work of his hands, what his own fingers have made.

Come into the rock, hide in the dust to escape the terror of Adonai and the glory of his majesty.

People will enter cracks in the rocks and holes in the ground to escape the terror of Adonai and his glorious majesty, when he sets out to convulse the earth.

On that day a man will take hold of his idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, and fling them away to the moles and bats!

Then they will enter the cracks in the rocks and the crevices in the cliffs to escape the terror of Adonai and his glorious majesty, when he sets out to convulse the earth.

People will oppress each other — everyone his friend, everyone his neighbor. The young will be insolent toward their elders, the insignificant arrogant toward the respected.

A man will take hold of his brother in his father's house and say, "You have a coat, so rule us! Take charge of this ruin!"

For Yerushalayim is ruined, and Y'hudah has fallen; because their words and deeds defy Adonai , in open provocation of his glory.

Adonai presents the indictment against the leaders and officers of his people: "It is you who devour the vineyard; in your houses is plunder taken from the poor.

I want to sing a song for someone I love, a song about my loved one and his vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

They have lutes and lyres, drums and flutes, and wine at their parties; but they pay no attention to how Adonai works and never look at what his hands have made.

They say, "We want God to speed up his work, to hurry it along, so we can see it! We want the Holy One of Isra'el's plan to come true right now, so we can be sure of it!"

This is why Adonai 's anger blazed up against his people, why he stretched out his hand against them and struck them [so hard that] the hills shook, and corpses lay like trash in the streets. Even after all this, his anger remains, his upraised hand still threatens.