The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

Let the conclusion of all of these thoughts be heard: Fear God and obey his commandments, for this is what it means to be human.

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

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

“Draw me away with you and let us run together!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.”

Daughters of Jerusalem,
I am dark like the tents of Kedar,
yet lovely like the curtains of Solomon.

“Do not gaze at me because I am deeply tanned,
[I have worked in] the sun; it has left its mark on me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard (my complexion) I have not kept.”

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

If you don't know, most beautiful of women, go out after the flock and graze your young goats beside the shepherd's tents.

While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.

A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, Between my breasts it lodgeth.

Look at you! You are beautiful, my darling. Look at you! You are so beautiful. Your eyes are doves.

Look at you! You are handsome, my beloved, truly lovely. How lush is our couch.

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

The Beloved about Her Lover: He brought me into the banquet hall, and he looked at me lovingly.

(The Bridegroom)
“I command that you take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field [which run free],
That you do not rouse nor awaken my love
Until she pleases.”

(The Shulammite Bride)
“Listen! My beloved!
Behold, he comes,
Climbing on the mountains,
Leaping and running on the hills!

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

For behold, the winter is past, The rain is over, it is gone:

The fig-tree puts out her green fruit and the vines with their young fruit give a good smell. Get up from your bed, my beautiful one, and come away.

Until the day shall breathe and the shadows fled away, turn, thou, it being likened to thee, my beloved, to the roe, or to the fawn of the hind upon the mountains of section.

In my bed at night
I sought the one I love;
I sought him, but did not find him.

“I said ‘So I must arise now and go out into the city;
Into the streets and into the squares [places I do not know]
I must seek him whom my soul loves.’
I sought him but I did not find him.

It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

(The Bridegroom)
“I command that you take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
That you do not rouse nor awaken my love
Until she pleases.”

Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

All of them holding sword, taught of battle, Each his sword by his thigh, for fear at night.

King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

Come out and look, {O maidens of Zion}, at {King Solomon}, at the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the joy of his heart!

Look at you! You are beautiful, my darling. Look at you! You are so beautiful. Your eyes behind your veil are doves, your hair is like a flock of goats coming down from Mt. Gilead.

As the tower of David is thy neck, built for an armoury, The chief of the shields are hung on it, All shields of the mighty.

You have taken away my heart, my sister, my bride; you have taken away my heart, with one look you have taken it, with one chain of your neck!

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

My beloved, thrust in his hand, at the window, and, my feelings, were deeply moved for him:

“I opened for my beloved,
But my beloved had turned away and was gone.
My heart went out to him when he spoke.
I searched for him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he did not answer me.

I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, ... What will ye tell him? That I am sick of love.

What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

His face is as beds of spices, giving out perfumes of every sort; his lips like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

His legs, pillars of white marble, founded on sockets of gold, - His form, like Lebanon, choice as cedars:

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that be clipped, which go out of the washing place: where every one beareth two twins, and not one unfruitful among them.

What is she, this that peepeth out as the morning, fair as the moon, excellent as the sun, glorious as an army of men with their banners?

“I went down to the orchard of nut trees
To see the flowers of the valley,
To see whether the grapevine had budded
And the pomegranates were in flower.

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

Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.

Your neck [is] like a tower of ivory; your eyes [are] pools in Heshbon at the gate of Beth Rabbim. Your nose [is] like the tower of Lebanon {looking out over Damascus}.

I said, I will climb up into the palm tree. I will take hold of the branches of it. Let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy breath like apples,

May your mouth be like good wine. May it go down smoothly to my beloved, gliding gently over the lips of the sleeping ones.

Come, my beloved, let us {go out to the countryside}; let us spend the night in the villages.

“Let us go out early to the vineyards;
Let us see whether the vine has budded
And its blossoms have opened,
And whether the pomegranates have flowered.
There I will give you my love.

The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

“Oh, that you were like a brother to me,
Who nursed at the breasts of my mother.
If I found you out of doors, I would kiss you;
No one would blame me or despise me, either.

I would have guided thee - brought thee into the house of my mother, Thou wouldst have instructed me, - I would have let thee drink of spiced wine, of the pressed-out juice of my pomegranate.

(The Bridegroom)
“I command you to take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem,
That you do not rouse nor awaken my love
Until she pleases.”

Who is this, who comes up from the waste places, resting on her loved one? It was I who made you awake under the apple-tree, where your mother gave you birth; there she was in pain at your birth.

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love [is] strong as death; passion [is] fierce as Sheol; its flashes [are] flashes of fire; [it is] a blazing flame.

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

If she is a wall,
we will build a silver parapet on it.
If she is a door,
we will enclose it with cedar planks.

(The Shulammite Bride)
“I was a wall, and my breasts were like the towers.
Then I became in the king’s eyes
As one [to be respected and allowed] to find peace.

Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

“My very own vineyard is at my disposal;
The thousand [shekels of silver] are for you, O Solomon,
And two hundred are for those who tend the fruit.”

Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.

Flee, my beloved, and be it likened to thee to the roe or to the fawn of the hinds upon the mountains of spices.

"Oh, you sinful nation! You people burdened down by iniquity! You offspring of those who keep practicing what is evil! You corrupt children! "They've abandoned the LORD; they've despised the Holy One of Israel; in their estrangement, they've walked away from me.

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 even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

If the Lord of armies had not kept some at least of us safe, we would have been like Sodom, and the fate of Gomorrah would have been ours.

"Listen to what the LORD says, you rulers of Sodom, and pay attention to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

Your new moons and your regular feasts are a grief to my soul: they are a weight in my spirit; I am crushed under them.

And when you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I [will] not be listening. Your hands are full of blood.

"Wash yourselves, and make yourselves clean; remove your evil behavior from my presence; stop practicing what is evil.

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies, the one who is Israel's Mighty One, declares: "Now I'll get relief from his enemies and avenge myself on his foes.

And my hand will again be on you, washing away what is unclean as with soap, and taking away all your false metal;

And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellers as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.

Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired,
And you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen.

For ye shall be as an oak the leaf withering, and as a garden which there no water to it.

And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

For thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with what comes from the east, and use auguries like the Philistines, and ally themselves with the children of foreigners.

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

The haughty looks of mankind will be brought low, the lofty pride of human beings will be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted at that time.