Axial Commons
Hebrew / Jewish
Thy teeth are as flocks of shorn [sheep], that have gone up from the washing, all of them bearing twins, and there is none barren among them: thy lips are as a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely.
Thy cheek is like the rind of a pomegranate, [being seen] without thy veil.
There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens without number.
My dove, my perfect one is one; she is the [only] one of her mother; she is the choice of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and the queens will pronounce her blessed, yea, and the concubines, and they will praise her.
Who is this that looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, choice as the sun, terrible as [armies] set in array?
I went down to the garden of nuts, to look at the fruits of the valley, to see if the vine flowered, [if] the pomegranates blossomed.
There I will give thee my breasts: my soul knew [it] not: it made me as the chariots of Aminadab.
Return, return, O Sunamite; return, return, and we will look at thee. What will ye see in the Sunamite? She comes as bands of armies.
Thy steps are beautiful in shoes, O daughter of the prince: the joints of [thy] thighs are like chains, the work of the craftsman.
Thy navel is [as] a turned bowl, not wanting liquor; thy belly is [as] a heap of wheat set about with lilies.
Thy two breasts are as two twin fawns.
Thy neck is as an ivory tower; thine eyes are as pools in Esebon, by the gates of the daughter of many: thy nose is as the tower of Libanus, looking toward Damascus.
Thy head upon thee is as Carmel, and the curls of thy hair like scarlet; the king is bound in the galleries.
How beautiful art thou, and how sweet art thou, [my] love!
This is thy greatness in thy delights: thou wast made like a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters.
I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its high boughs: and now shall thy breasts be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose as apples;
and thy throat as good wine, going well with my kinsman, suiting my lips and teeth.
I am my kinsman's, and his desire is toward me.
Come, my kinsman, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
Let us go early into the vineyards; let us see if the vine has flowered, [if] the blossoms have appeared, if the pomegranates have blossomed; there will I give thee my breasts.
The mandrakes have given a smell, and at our doors [are] all kinds of choice fruits, new and old. O my kinsman, I have kept [them] for thee.
I would that thou, O my kinsman, wert he that sucked the breasts of my mother; when I found thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, they should not despise me.
I would take thee, I would bring thee into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me; I would make thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranates.
His left hand [should be] under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.
I have charged you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the virtues of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, until he please.
Who is this that comes up all white, leaning on her kinsman? I raised thee up under an apple-tree; there thy mother brought thee forth; there she that bore thee brought thee forth.
Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave, her shafts are shafts of fire, [even] the flames thereof.
Much water will not be able to quench love, and rivers shall not drown it; if a man would give all his substance for love, [men] would utterly despise it.
Our sister is little, and has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister, in the day wherein she shall be spoken for?
If she is a wall, let us build upon her silver bulwarks; and if she is a door, let us carve for her cedar panels.
I am a wall, and my breasts are as towers; I was in their eyes as one that found peace.
Solomon had a vineyard in Beelamon; he let his vineyard to keepers; every one was to bring for its fruit a thousand [pieces] of silver.
My vineyard, even mine, is before me; Solomon [shall have] a thousand, and they that keep its fruit two hundred.
Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: make me hear [it].
Away, my kinsman, and be like a doe or a fawn on the mountains of spices.
The vision which Esaias the son of Amos saw, which he saw against Juda and against Jerusalem, in the reign of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, who reigned over Judea.
Hear, O heaven, and hearken, O earth: for the Lord has spoken, [saying], I have begotten and reared up children, but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel does not know me, and the people has not regarded me.
Ah sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children: ye have forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
Why should ye be smitten [any] more, transgressing more and more? the whole head is pained, and the whole heart sad.
From the feet to the head, there is no soundness in them; neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering ulcer [are healed]: it is not possible to apply a plaister, nor oil, nor bandages.
Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is made desolate, overthrown by strange nations.
The daughter of Sion shall be deserted as a tent in a vineyard, and as a storehouse of fruits in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
And if the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we should have been as Sodoma, and we should have been made like to Gomorrha.
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodoma; attend to the law of God, thou people of Gomorrha.
Of what [value] to me is the abundance of your sacrifices? saith the Lord: I am full of whole-burnt-offerings of rams; and I delight not in the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats:
neither shall ye come [with these] to appear before me; for who has required these things at your hands? Ye shall no more tread my court.
Though ye bring fine flour, [it is] vain; incense is an abomination to me; I cannot bear your new moons, and your sabbaths, and the great day;
[your] fasting, and rest from work, your new moons also, and your feasts my soul hates: ye have become loathsome to me; I will no more pardon your sins.
When ye stretch forth your hands, I will turn away mine eyes from you: and though ye make many supplications, I will not hearken to you; for your hands are full of blood.
Wash you, be clean; remove your iniquities from your souls before mine eyes; cease from your iniquities;
learn to do well; diligently seek judgment, deliver him that is suffering wrong, plead for the orphan, and obtain justice for the widow.
And come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make [them] white as wool.
And if ye be willing, and hearken to me, ye shall eat the good of the land:
but if ye be not willing, nor hearken to me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.
How has the faithful city Sion, [once] full of judgment, become a harlot! wherein righteousness lodged, but now murderers.
Your silver is worthless, thy wine merchants mix the wine with water.
Thy princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving bribes, seeking after rewards; not pleading for orphans, and not heeding the cause of widows.
Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Woe to the mighty [men] of Israel; for my wrath shall not cease against mine adversaries, and I will execute judgment on mine enemies.
And I will bring my hand upon thee, and purge thee completely, and I will destroy the rebellious, and will take away from thee all transgressors.
And I will establish thy judges as before, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: and afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful mother-city Sion.
For her captives shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy.
And the transgressors and the sinners shall be crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be utterly consumed.
For they shall be ashamed of their idols, which they delighted in, and they are made ashamed of the gardens which they coveted.
For they shall be as a turpentine tree that has cast its leaves, and as a garden that has no water.
And their strength shall be as a thread of tow, and their works as sparks, and the transgressors and the sinners shall be burnt up together, and there shall be none to quench [them].
The word which came to Esaias the son of Amos concerning Judea, and concerning Jerusalem.
For in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of God [shall be] on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall come to it.
And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into sickles: and nation shall not take up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.
And now, O house of Jacob, come, [and] let us walk in the light of the Lord.
For he has forsaken his people the house of Israel, because their land is filled as at the beginning with divinations, as the [land] of the Philistines, and many strange children were born to them.
For their land is filled with silver and gold, and there was no number of their treasures; their land also is filled with horses, and there was no number of their chariots.
And the land is filled with abominations, [even] the works of their hands; and they have worshipped [the works] which their fingers made.
And the mean man bowed down, and the great man was humbled: and I will not pardon them.
Now therefore enter ye into the rocks, and hide yourselves in the earth, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of the glory of his might, when he shall arise to strike terribly the earth.
For the eyes of the Lord are high, but man is low; and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and haughty, and upon every one that is high and towering, and they shall be brought down;
and upon every cedar of Libanus, of them that are high and towering, and upon every oak of Basan,
and upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill,
and upon every high tower, and upon every high wall,
and upon every ship of the sea, and upon every display of fine ships.
And every man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall fall: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
And they shall hide all [idols] made with hands,
having carried [them] into the caves, and into the clefts of the rocks, and into the caverns of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of the glory of his might, when he shall arise to strike terribly the earth.
For in that day a man shall cast forth his silver and gold abominations, which they made [in order] to worship vanities and bats;
to enter into the caverns of the solid rock, and into the clefts of the rocks, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of the glory of his might, when he shall arise to strike terribly the earth.
Behold now, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judea the mighty man and mighty woman, the strength of bread, and the strength of water,
the great and mighty man, the warrior and the judge, and the prophet, and the counsellor, and the elder,
the captain of fifty also, and the honourable counsellor, and the wise artificer, and the intelligent hearer.
And I will make youths their princes, and mockers shall have dominion over them.
And the people shall fall, man upon man, and [every] man upon his neighbour: the child shall insult the elder man, and the base the honourable.
For a man shall lay hold of his brother, as one of his father's household, saying, Thou hast raiment, be thou our ruler, and let my meat be under thee.
And he shall answer in that day, and say, I will not be thy ruler; for I have no bread in my house, nor raiment: I will not be the ruler of this people.
For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judea has fallen, and their tongues [have spoken] with iniquity, disobedient [as they are] towards the Lord.
Wherefore now their glory has been brought low, and the shame of their countenance has withstood them, and they have proclaimed their sin as Sodom, and made it manifest.
Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying against themselves, Let us bind the just, for he is burdensome to us: therefore shall they eat the fruits of their works.
Woe to the transgressor! evils shall happen to him according to the works of his hands.
O my people, your exactors strip you, and extortioners rule over you: O my people, they that pronounce you blessed lead you astray, and pervert the path of your feet.
But now the Lord will stand up for judgment, and will enter into judgment with his people.