Day 252 of 365

¹Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is as a flock of goats, that descend from Mount Gilead.

²Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock, which have come up from the washing, where every one of them has twins. None is bereaved among them.

³Your lips are like scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

⁴Your neck is like David's tower built for an armory, whereon a thousand shields hang, all the shields of the mighty men.

⁵Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.

⁶Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.

⁷You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

⁹You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.

¹⁰How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine! The fragrance of your perfumes than all manner of spices!

¹¹Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

¹²A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.

¹³Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits: henna with spikenard plants,

¹⁴spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,

¹⁵a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon. Beloved

¹⁶Awake, north wind; and come, you south! Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and taste his precious fruits. Lover

¹I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. Beloved

²I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night."

³I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on? I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?

⁴My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him.

⁵I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock.

⁶I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left; and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I did not find him. I called him, but he did not answer.

⁷The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.

⁸I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love. Friends

⁹How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us? Beloved

¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand.

¹¹His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, washed with milk, mounted like jewels.

¹³His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

¹⁴His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.

¹⁵His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

¹⁶His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem. Friends

¹Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? Beloved

²My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

³I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies,

⁴You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.

⁵Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead.

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing; of which every one has twins; none is bereaved among them.

⁷Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number.

⁹My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother's only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

¹⁰Who is she who looks forth as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?

¹¹I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.

¹²Without realizing it, my desire set me with my royal people's chariots. Friends

¹³Return, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Lover Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?

¹Hear my prayer, Lord! Let my cry come to you.

²Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call.

³For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a firebrand.

⁴My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread.

⁵By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin.

⁶I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I have become as an owl of the waste places.

⁷I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.

⁸My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.

⁹For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,

¹⁰Because of your indignation and your wrath, for you have taken me up, and thrown me away.

¹¹My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.

¹²But you, Lord, will abide forever; your renown endures to all generations.

¹³You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come.

¹⁴For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust.

¹⁵So the nations will fear the name of the Lord; all the kings of the earth your glory.

¹⁶For the Lord has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory.

¹⁷He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer.

¹⁸This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise Yah.

¹⁹For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, the Lord saw the earth;

²⁰to hear the groans of the prisoner; to free those who are condemned to death;

²¹that men may declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;

²²when the peoples are gathered together, the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.

²³He weakened my strength along the course. He shortened my days.

²⁴I said, "My God, do not take me away in the midst of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.

²⁵Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.

²⁷But you are the same. Your years will have no end.

²⁸The children of your servants will continue. Their seed will be established before you."

¹Listen, sons, to a father's instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;

²for I give you sound learning. Do not forsake my law.

³For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.

⁴He taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.

⁵Get wisdom. Get understanding. Do not forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.

⁶Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.

⁷Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.

⁸Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her.

⁹She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you."

¹⁰Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.

¹¹I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.

¹²When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.

¹³Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.

¹⁴Do not enter into the path of the wicked. Do not walk in the way of evil men.

¹⁵Avoid it, and do not pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on.

¹⁶For they do not sleep, unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what they stumble over.

²⁰My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings.

²¹Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.

²²For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body.

²³Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

²⁴Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you.

²⁵Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you.

²⁶Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.

²⁷Do not turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.