The Fourth Song (SNG 5:1-6:3)

The Woman

[5:2] While I slept, my heart was awake. I dreamed my lover knocked at the door.

The Man

Let me come in, my darling, my sweetheart, my dove. My head is wet with dew, and my hair is damp from the mist.

The Woman

[5:3] I have already undressed; why should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet; why should I get them dirty again?

[5:4] My lover put his hand to the door, and I was thrilled that he was near.

[5:5] I was ready to let him come in. My hands were covered with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, as I grasped the handle of the door.

[5:6] I opened the door for my lover, but he had already gone. How I wanted to hear his voice! I looked for him, but couldn't find him; I called to him, but heard no answer.

[5:7] The sentries patrolling the city found me; they struck me and bruised me; the guards at the city wall tore off my cape.

[5:8] Promise me, women of Jerusalem, that if you find my lover, you will tell him I am weak from passion.

The Women

[5:9] Most beautiful of women, is your lover different from everyone else? What is there so wonderful about him that we should give you our promise?

The Woman

[5:10] My lover is handsome and strong; he is one in ten thousand.

[5:11] His face is bronzed and smooth; his hair is wavy, black as a raven.

[5:12] His eyes are as beautiful as doves by a flowing brook, doves washed in milk and standing by the stream.

[5:13] His cheeks are as lovely as a garden that is full of herbs and spices. His lips are like lilies, wet with liquid myrrh.

[5:14] His hands are well-formed, and he wears rings set with gems. His body is like smooth ivory, with sapphires set in it.

[5:15] His thighs are columns of alabaster set in sockets of gold. He is majestic, like the Lebanon Mountains with their towering cedars.

[5:16] His mouth is sweet to kiss; everything about him enchants me. This is what my lover is like, women of Jerusalem.

The Women

[6:1] Most beautiful of women, where has your lover gone? Tell us which way your lover went, so that we can help you find him.

The Woman

[6:2] My lover has gone to his garden, where the balsam trees grow. He is feeding his flock in the garden and gathering lilies.

[6:3] My lover is mine, and I am his; he feeds his flock among the lilies.

The Fifth Song (SNG 6:3-8:4)

The Man

[6:4] My love, you are as beautiful as Jerusalem, as lovely as the city of Tirzah, as breathtaking as these great cities.

[6:5] Turn your eyes away from me; they are holding me captive. Your hair dances like a flock of goats bounding down the hills of Gilead.

[6:6] Your teeth are as white as a flock of sheep that have just been washed. Not one of them is missing; they are all perfectly matched.

[6:7] Your cheeks glow behind your veil.

[6:8] Let the king have sixty queens, eighty concubines, young women without number!

[6:9] But I love only one, and she is as lovely as a dove. She is her mother's only daughter, her mother's favorite child. All women look at her and praise her; queens and concubines sing her praises.

[6:10] Who is this whose glance is like the dawn? She is beautiful and bright, as dazzling as the sun or the moon.

[6:11] I have come down among the almond trees to see the young plants in the valley, to see the new leaves on the vines and the blossoms on the pomegranate trees.

[6:12] I am trembling; you have made me as eager for love as a chariot driver is for battle.

The Women

[6:13] Dance, dance, girl of Shulam. Let us watch you as you dance.

The Woman

Why do you want to watch me as I dance between the rows of onlookers?

The Man

[7:1] What a magnificent young woman you are! How beautiful are your feet in sandals. The curve of your thighs is like the work of an artist.

[7:2] A bowl is there, that never runs out of spiced wine. A sheaf of wheat is there, surrounded by lilies.

[7:3] Your breasts are like twin deer, like two gazelles.

[7:4] Your neck is like a tower of ivory. Your eyes are like the pools in the city of Heshbon, near the gate of that great city. Your nose is as lovely as the tower of Lebanon that stands guard at Damascus.

[7:5] Your head is held high like Mount Carmel. Your braided hair shines like the finest satin; its beauty could hold a king captive.

[7:6] How pretty you are, how beautiful; how complete the delights of your love.

[7:7] You are as graceful as a palm tree, and your breasts are clusters of dates.

[7:8] I will climb the palm tree and pick its fruit. To me your breasts are like bunches of grapes, your breath like the fragrance of apples,

[7:9] and your mouth like the finest wine.

The Woman

Then let the wine flow straight to my lover, flowing over his lips and teeth.

[7:10] I belong to my lover, and he desires me.

[7:11] Come, darling, let's go out to the countryside and spend the night in the villages.

[7:12] We will get up early and look at the vines to see whether they've started to grow, whether the blossoms are opening and the pomegranate trees are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

[7:13] You can smell the scent of mandrakes, and all the pleasant fruits are near our door. Darling, I have kept for you the old delights and the new.

[8:1] I wish that you were my brother, that my mother had nursed you at her breast. Then, if I met you in the street, I could kiss you and no one would mind.

[8:2] I would take you to my mother's house, where you could teach me love. I would give you spiced wine, my pomegranate wine to drink.

[8:3] Your left hand is under my head, and your right hand caresses me.

[8:4] Promise me, women of Jerusalem, that you will not interrupt our love.

The Sixth Song (SNG 8:4-14)

The Women

[8:5] Who is this coming from the desert, arm in arm with her lover?

The Woman

Under the apple tree I woke you, in the place where you were born.

[8:6] Close your heart to every love but mine; hold no one in your arms but me. Love is as powerful as death; passion is as strong as death itself. It bursts into flame and burns like a raging fire.

[8:7] Water cannot put it out; no flood can drown it. But if any tried to buy love with their wealth, contempt is all they would get.

The Woman's Brothers

[8:8] We have a young sister, and her breasts are still small. What will we do for her when a young man comes courting?

[8:9] If she is a wall, we will build her a silver tower. But if she is a gate, we will protect her with panels of cedar.

The Woman

[8:10] I am a wall, and my breasts are its towers. My lover knows that with him I find contentment and peace.

The Man

[8:11] Solomon has a vineyard in a place called Baal Hamon. There are farmers who rent it from him; each one pays a thousand silver coins.

[8:12] Solomon is welcome to his thousand coins, and the farmers to two hundred as their share; I have a vineyard of my own!

[8:13] Let me hear your voice from the garden, my love; my companions are waiting to hear you speak.

The Woman

[8:14] Come to me, my lover, like a gazelle, like a young stag on the mountains where spices grow.

God Reprimands His People (ISA 1:2-20)

[1:2] The Lord said, “Earth and sky, listen to what I am saying! The children I brought up have rebelled against me.

[1:3] Cattle know who owns them, and donkeys know where their master feeds them. But that is more than my people Israel know. They don't understand at all.”

[1:4] You are doomed, you sinful nation, you corrupt and evil people! Your sins drag you down! You have rejected the Lord, the holy God of Israel, and have turned your backs on him.

[1:5] Why do you keep on rebelling? Do you want to be punished even more? Israel, your head is already covered with wounds, and your heart and mind are sick.

[1:6] From head to foot there is not a healthy spot on your body. You are covered with bruises and sores and open wounds. Your wounds have not been cleaned or bandaged. No medicine has been put on them.

[1:7] Your country has been devastated, and your cities have been burned to the ground. While you look on, foreigners take over your land and bring everything to ruin.

[1:8] Jerusalem alone is left, a city under siege—as defenseless as a guard's hut in a vineyard or a shed in a cucumber field.

[1:9] If the Lord Almighty had not let some of the people survive, Jerusalem would have been totally destroyed, just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.

[1:10] Jerusalem, your rulers and your people are like those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen to what the Lord is saying to you. Pay attention to what our God is teaching you.

[1:11] He says, “Do you think I want all these sacrifices you keep offering to me? I have had more than enough of the sheep you burn as sacrifices and of the fat of your fine animals. I am tired of the blood of bulls and sheep and goats.

[1:12] Who asked you to bring me all this when you come to worship me? Who asked you to do all this tramping around in my Temple?

[1:13] It's useless to bring your offerings. I am disgusted with the smell of the incense you burn. I cannot stand your New Moon Festivals, your Sabbaths, and your religious gatherings; they are all corrupted by your sins.

[1:14] I hate your New Moon Festivals and holy days; they are a burden that I am tired of bearing.

[1:15] “When you lift your hands in prayer, I will not look at you. No matter how much you pray, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with blood.

[1:16] Wash yourselves clean. Stop all this evil that I see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil

[1:17] and learn to do right. See that justice is done—help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend widows.”

[1:18] The Lord says, “Now, let's settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool.

[1:19] If you will only obey me, you will eat the good things the land produces.

[1:20] But if you defy me, you are doomed to die. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The Sinful City (ISA 1:21-31)

[1:21] The city that once was faithful is behaving like a whore! At one time it was filled with righteous people, but now only murderers remain.

[1:22] Jerusalem, you were once like silver, but now you are worthless; you were like good wine, but now you are only water.

[1:23] Your leaders are rebels and friends of thieves; they are always accepting gifts and bribes. They never defend orphans in court or listen when widows present their case.

[1:24] So now, listen to what the Lord Almighty, Israel's powerful God, is saying: “I will take revenge on you, my enemies, and you will cause me no more trouble.

[1:25] I will take action against you. I will purify you the way metal is refined, and will remove all your impurity.

[1:26] I will give you rulers and advisers like those you had long ago. Then Jerusalem will be called the righteous, faithful city.”

[1:27] Because the Lord is righteous, he will save Jerusalem and everyone there who repents.

[1:28] But he will crush everyone who sins and rebels against him; he will kill everyone who forsakes him.

[1:29] You will be sorry that you ever worshiped trees and planted sacred gardens.

[1:30] You will wither like a dying oak, like a garden that no one waters.

[1:31] Just as straw is set on fire by a spark, so powerful people will be destroyed by their own evil deeds, and no one will be able to stop the destruction.

Everlasting Peace (ISA 2:1-5)

[2:1] Here is the message which God gave to Isaiah son of Amoz about Judah and Jerusalem:

[2:2] In days to come the mountain where the Temple stands will be the highest one of all, towering above all the hills. Many nations will come streaming to it,

[2:3] and their people will say, “Let us go up the hill of the Lord, to the Temple of Israel's God. He will teach us what he wants us to do; we will walk in the paths he has chosen. For the Lord's teaching comes from Jerusalem; from Zion he speaks to his people.”

[2:4] He will settle disputes among great nations. They will hammer their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nations will never again go to war, never prepare for battle again.

[2:5] Now, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light which the Lord gives us!

Arrogance Will Be Destroyed (ISA 2:6-22)

[2:6] O God, you have forsaken your people, the descendants of Jacob! The land is full of magic practices from the East and from Philistia. The people follow foreign customs.

[2:7] Their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots.

[2:8] Their land is full of idols, and they worship objects that they have made with their own hands.

[2:9] Everyone will be humiliated and disgraced. Do not forgive them, Lord!

[2:10] They will hide in caves in the rocky hills or dig holes in the ground to try to escape from the Lord's anger and to hide from his power and glory!

[2:11] A day is coming when human pride will be ended and human arrogance destroyed. Then the Lord alone will be exalted.

[2:12] On that day the Lord Almighty will humble everyone who is powerful, everyone who is proud and conceited.

[2:13] He will destroy the tall cedars of Lebanon and all the oaks in the land of Bashan.

[2:14] He will level the high mountains and hills,

[2:15] every high tower, and the walls of every fortress.

[2:16] He will sink even the largest and most beautiful ships.

[2:19] People will hide in caves in the rocky hills or dig holes in the ground to try to escape from the Lord's anger and to hide from his power and glory, when he comes to shake the earth.

[2:20] When that day comes, they will throw away the gold and silver idols they have made, and abandon them to the moles and the bats.

[2:21] When the Lord comes to shake the earth, people will hide in holes and caves in the rocky hills to try to escape from his anger and to hide from his power and glory.

[2:22] Put no more confidence in mortals. What are they worth?

Chaos in Jerusalem (ISA 3:1-12)

[3:1] Now the Lord, the Almighty Lord, is about to take away from Jerusalem and Judah everything and everyone that the people depend on. He is going to take away their food and their water,

[3:2] their heroes and their soldiers, their judges and their prophets, their fortunetellers and their statesmen,

[3:3] their military and civilian leaders, their politicians and everyone who uses magic to control events.

[3:4] The Lord will let the people be governed by immature boys.

[3:5] Everyone will take advantage of everyone else. Young people will not respect their elders, and worthless people will not respect their superiors.

[3:6] A time will come when the members of a clan will choose one of their number and say to him, “You at least have something to wear, so be our leader in this time of trouble.”

[3:7] But he will answer, “Not me! I can't help you. I don't have any food or clothes either. Don't make me your leader!”

[3:8] Yes, Jerusalem is doomed! Judah is collapsing! Everything they say and do is against the Lord; they openly insult God himself.

[3:9] Their prejudices will be held against them. They sin as openly as the people of Sodom did. They are doomed, and they have brought it on themselves.

[3:10] The righteous will be happy, and things will go well for them. They will get to enjoy what they have worked for.

[3:11] But evil people are doomed; what they have done to others will now be done to them.

[3:12] Moneylenders oppress my people, and their creditors cheat them. My people, your leaders are misleading you, so that you do not know which way to turn.

The Lord Judges His People (ISA 3:13-15)

[3:13] The Lord is ready to state his case; he is ready to judge his people.

[3:14] The Lord is bringing the elders and leaders of his people to judgment. He makes this accusation: “You have plundered vineyards, and your houses are full of what you have taken from the poor.

[3:15] You have no right to crush my people and take advantage of the poor. I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, have spoken.”