'And take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts may be weighed down with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day may come on you,

The kingdom

and saying, 'Reform, for come nigh hath the reign of the heavens,'

Another simile he set before them, saying: 'The reign of the heavens was likened to a man sowing good seed in his field,

'For the reign of the heavens is like to a man, a householder, who went forth with the morning to hire workmen for his vineyard,

'The reign of the heavens was likened to a man, a king, who made marriage-feasts for his son,

And in the days of these kings raise up doth the God of the heavens a kingdom that is not destroyed -- to the age, and its kingdom to another people is not left: it beateth small and endeth all these kingdoms, and it standeth to the age.

Ten

In divers colours she is brought to the king, Virgins -- after her -- her companions, Are brought to thee.

For fragrance are thy perfumes good. Perfume emptied out -- thy name, Therefore have virgins loved thee!

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

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

And I praise you, brethren, that in all things ye remember me, and according as I did deliver to you, the deliverances ye keep,

these are they who with women were not defiled, for they are virgin; these are they who are following the Lamb whithersoever he may go; these were bought from among men -- a first-fruit to God and to the Lamb --

Which

so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father who is in the heavens.

'Let your loins be girded, and the lamps burning,

that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God, unblemished in the midst of a generation crooked and perverse, among whom ye do appear as luminaries in the world,

Went

henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of the righteousness that the Lord -- the Righteous Judge -- shall give to me in that day, and not only to me, but also to all those loving his manifestation.

waiting for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,

and I think right, so long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up in reminding you,

waiting for and hasting to the presence of the day of God, by which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements with burning heat shall melt;

The bridegroom

And Jesus said to them, 'Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn, so long as the bridegroom is with them? but days shall come when the bridegroom may be taken from them, and then they shall fast.

'The reign of the heavens was likened to a man, a king, who made marriage-feasts for his son,

Daughters of kings are among thy precious ones, A queen hath stood at thy right hand, In pure gold of Ophir.

For thy Maker is thy husband, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, And thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, 'God of all the earth,' He is called.

It is not said of thee any more, 'Forsaken!' And of thy land it is not said any more, 'Desolate,' For to thee is cried, 'My delight is in her,' And to thy land, 'Married,' For Jehovah hath delighted in thee, And thy land is married.

And Jesus said to them, 'Are the sons of the bride-chamber able, while the bridegroom is with them, to fast? so long time as they have the bridegroom with them they are not able to fast;

And he said unto them, 'Are ye able to make the sons of the bride-chamber -- in the bridegroom being with them -- to fast?

he who is having the bride is bridegroom, and the friend of the bridegroom, who is standing and hearing him, with joy doth rejoice because of the voice of the bridegroom; this, then, my joy hath been fulfilled.

for I am zealous for you with zeal of God, for I did betroth you to one husband, a pure virgin, to present to Christ,

The husbands! love your own wives, as also the Christ did love the assembly, and did give himself for it,

may we rejoice and exult, and give the glory to Him, because come did the marriage of the Lamb, and his wife did make herself ready;

and I, John, saw the holy city -- new Jerusalem -- coming down from God out of the heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband;