The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

I am sleeping, but my heart waketh: The sound of my beloved knocking! 'Open to me, my sister, my friend, My dove, my perfect one, For my head is filled [with] dew, My locks [with] drops of the night.'

I have put off my coat, how do I put it on? I have washed my feet, how do I defile them?

My beloved sent his hand from the net-work, And my bowels were moved for him.

I rose to open to my beloved, And my hands dropped myrrh, Yea, my fingers flowing myrrh, On the handles of the lock.

I opened to my beloved, But my beloved withdrew — he passed on, My soul went forth when he spake, I sought him, and found him not. I called him, and he answered me not.

The watchmen who go round about the city, Found me, smote me, wounded me, Keepers of the walls lifted up my veil from off me.

I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved — What do ye tell him? that I [am] sick with love!

What [is] thy beloved above [any] beloved, O fair among women? What [is] thy beloved above [any] beloved, That thus thou hast adjured us?

My beloved [is] clear and ruddy, Conspicuous above a myriad!

His head [is] pure gold — fine gold, His locks flowing, dark as a raven,

His eyes as doves by streams of water, Washing in milk, sitting in fulness.

His cheeks as a bed of the spice, towers of perfumes, His lips [are] lilies, dropping flowing myrrh,

His hands rings of gold, set with beryl, His heart bright ivory, covered with sapphires,

His limbs pillars of marble, Founded on sockets of fine gold, His appearance as Lebanon, choice as the cedars.

His mouth is sweetness — and all of him desirable, This [is] my beloved, and this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!

Whither hath thy beloved gone, O fair among women? Whither hath thy beloved turned, And we seek him with thee?

My beloved went down to his garden, To the beds of the spice, To delight himself in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

I [am] my beloved's, and my beloved [is] mine, Who is delighting himself among the lilies.

Fair [art] thou, my friend, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Awe-inspiring as bannered hosts.

Turn round thine eyes from before me, Because they have made me proud. Thy hair [is] as a row of the goats, That have shone from Gilead,

Thy teeth as a row of the lambs, That have come up from the washing, Because all of them are forming twins, And a bereaved one is not among them.

As the work of the pomegranate [is] thy temple behind thy veil.

Sixty are queens, and eighty concubines, And virgins without number.

One is my dove, my perfect one, One she [is] of her mother, The choice one she [is] of her that bare her, Daughters saw, and pronounce her happy, Queens and concubines, and they praise her.

'Who [is] this that is looking forth as morning, Fair as the moon — clear as the sun, Awe-inspiring as bannered hosts?'

Unto a garden of nuts I went down, To look on the buds of the valley, To see whither the vine had flourished, The pomegranates had blossomed —

I knew not my soul, It made me — chariots of my people Nadib.

Return, return, O Shulammith! Return, return, and we look upon thee. What do ye see in Shulammith?

As the chorus of 'Mahanaim.' How beautiful were thy feet with sandals, O daughter of Nadib. The turnings of thy sides [are] as ornaments, Work of the hands of an artificer.

Thy waist [is] a basin of roundness, It lacketh not the mixture, Thy body a heap of wheat, fenced with lilies,

Thy two breasts as two young ones, twins of a roe,

Thy neck as a tower of the ivory, Thine eyes pools in Heshbon, near the gate of Bath-Rabbim, Thy face as a tower of Lebanon looking to Damascus,

Thy head upon thee as Carmel, And the locks of thy head as purple, The king is bound with the flowings!

How fair and how pleasant hast thou been, O love, in delights.

This thy stature hath been like to a palm, And thy breasts to clusters.

I said, 'Let me go up on the palm, Let me lay hold on its boughs, Yea, let thy breasts be, I pray thee, as clusters of the vine, And the fragrance of thy face as citrons,

And thy palate as the good wine — 'Flowing to my beloved in uprightness, Strengthening the lips of the aged!

I [am] my beloved's, and on me [is] his desire.

Come, my beloved, we go forth to the field,

We lodge in the villages, we go early to the vineyards, We see if the vine hath flourished, The sweet smelling-flower hath opened. The pomegranates have blossomed, There do I give to thee my loves;

The mandrakes have given fragrance, And at our openings all pleasant things, New, yea, old, my beloved, I laid up for thee!

Who doth make thee as a brother to me, Sucking the breasts of my mother? I find thee without, I kiss thee, Yea, they do not despise me,

I lead thee, I bring thee in unto my mother's house, She doth teach me, I cause thee to drink of the perfumed wine, Of the juice of my pomegranate,

His left hand [is] under my head, And his right doth embrace me.

I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, How ye stir up, And how ye wake the love till she please!

Who [is] this coming from the wilderness, Hasting herself for her beloved? Under the citron-tree I have waked thee, There did thy mother pledge thee, There she gave a pledge [that] bare thee.

Set me as a seal on thy heart, as a seal on thine arm, For strong as death is love, Sharp as Sheol is jealousy, Its burnings [are] burnings of fire, a flame of Jah!

Many waters are not able to quench the love, And floods do not wash it away. If one give all the wealth of his house for love, Treading down — they tread upon it.

We have a little sister, and breasts she hath not, What do we do for our sister, In the day that it is told of her?

If she is a wall, we build by her a palace of silver. And if she is a door, We fashion by her board-work of cedar.

I [am] a wall, and my breasts as towers, Then I have been in his eyes as one finding peace.

Solomon hath a vineyard in Baal-Hamon, He hath given the vineyard to keepers, Each bringeth for its fruit a thousand silverlings;

My vineyard — my own — is before me, The thousand [is] for thee, O Solomon. And the two hundred for those keeping its fruit. O dweller in gardens!

The companions are attending to thy voice, Cause me to hear. Flee, my beloved, and be like to a roe,

Or to a young one of the harts on mountains of spices!

The Visions of Isaiah son of Amoz, that he hath seen concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, For Jehovah hath spoken: Sons I have nourished and brought up, And they — they transgressed against Me.

An ox hath known its owner, And an ass the crib of its master, Israel hath not known, My people hath not understood.

Ah, sinning nation, a people heavy [with] iniquity, A seed of evil doers, sons — corrupters! They have forsaken Jehovah, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have gone away backward.

Wherefore are ye stricken any more? Ye do add apostasy! Every head is become diseased, and every heart [is] sick.

From the sole of the foot — unto the head, There is no soundness in it, Wound, and bruise, and fresh smiting! They have not been closed nor bound, Nor have they softened with ointment.

Your land [is] a desolation, your cities burnt with fire, Your ground, before you strangers are consuming it, And a desolation as overthrown by strangers!

And left hath been the daughter of Zion, As a booth in a vineyard, As a lodge in a place of cucumbers — as a city besieged.

Unless Jehovah of Hosts had left to us a remnant, Shortly — as Sodom we had been, To Gomorrah we had been like!

Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom, Give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah,

'Why to Me the abundance of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah, I have been satiated [with] burnt-offerings of rams, And fat of fatlings; And blood of bullocks, and lambs, And he-goats I have not desired.

When ye come in to appear before Me, Who hath required this of your hand, To trample My courts?

Add not to bring in a vain present, Incense — an abomination it [is] to Me, New moon, and sabbath, calling of convocation! Rendure not iniquity — and a restraint!

Your new moons and your set seasons hath My soul hated, They have been upon me for a burden, I have been weary of bearing.

And in your spreading forth your hands, I hide mine eyes from you, Also when ye increase prayer, I do not hear, Your hands of blood have been full.

Wash ye, make ye pure, Turn aside the evil of your doings, from before Mine eyes, Cease to do evil, learn to do good.

Seek judgment, make happy the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, strive [for] the widow.

Come, I pray you, and we reason, saith Jehovah, If your sins are as scarlet, as snow they shall be white, If they are red as crimson, as wool they shall be!

If ye are willing, and have hearkened, The good of the land ye consume,

And if ye refuse, and have rebelled, [By] the sword ye are consumed, For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken.

How hath a faithful city become a harlot? I have filled it [with] judgment, Righteousness lodgeth in it — now murderers.

Thy silver hath become dross, Thy drink polluted with water.

Thy princes [are] apostates, and companions of thieves, Every one loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards, The fatherless they judge not, And the plea of the widow cometh not to them.

Therefore — the affirmation of the Lord — Jehovah of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I am eased of Mine adversaries, And I am avenged of Mine enemies,

And I turn back My hand upon thee, And I refine as purity thy dross, And I turn aside all thy tin,

And I give back thy judges as at the first, And thy counsellors as in the beginning, After this thou art called, 'A city of righteousness — a faithful city.'

Zion in judgment is redeemed, And her captivity in righteousness.

And the destruction of transgressors and sinners [is] together, And those forsaking Jehovah are consumed.

For [men] are ashamed because of the oaks That ye have desired, And ye are confounded because of the gardens That ye have chosen.

For ye are as an oak whose leaf is fading, And as a garden that hath no water.

And the strong hath been for tow, And his work for a spark, And burned have both of them together, And there is none quenching!

The thing that Isaiah son of Amoz hath seen concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

And it hath come to pass, In the latter end of the days, Established is the mount of Jehovah's house, Above the top of the mounts, And it hath been lifted up above the heights, And flowed unto it have all the nations.

And gone have many peoples and said, 'Come, and we go up unto the mount of Jehovah, Unto the house of the God of Jacob, And He doth teach us of His ways, And we walk in His paths, For from Zion goeth forth a law, And a word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.

And He hath judged between the nations, And hath given a decision to many peoples, And they have beat their swords to ploughshares, And their spears to pruning-hooks, Nation doth not lift up sword unto nation, Nor do they learn any more — war.

O house of Jacob, come, And we walk in the light of Jehovah.'

For Thou hast left Thy people, the house of Jacob. For they have been filled from the east, And [are] sorcerers like the Philistines, And with the children of strangers strike hands.

And its land is full of silver and gold, And there is no end to its treasures, And its land is full of horses, And there is no end to its chariots,

And its land is full of idols, To the work of its hands it boweth itself, To that which its fingers have made,

And the low boweth down, and the high is humbled, And Thou acceptest them not.

Enter into a rock, and be hidden in dust, Because of the fear of Jehovah, And because of the honour of His excellency.

The haughty eyes of man have been humbled, And bowed down hath been the loftiness of men, And set on high hath Jehovah alone been in that day.

For a day [is] to Jehovah of Hosts, For every proud and high one, And for every lifted up and low one,

And for all cedars of Lebanon, The high and the exalted ones, And for all oaks of Bashan,

And for all the high mountains, And for all the exalted heights,