Fear me not, because I am very dark, Because the sun hath scorched me, The sons of my mother were angry with me, They made me keeper of the vineyards, My vineyard -- my own -- I have not kept.

To my joyous one in chariots of Pharaoh, I have compared thee, my friend,

Comely have been thy cheeks with garlands, Thy neck with chains.

I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, By the roes or by the hinds of the field, Stir not up nor wake the love till she please!

The flowers have appeared in the earth, The time of the singing hath come, And the voice of the turtle was heard in our land,

The fig-tree hath ripened her green figs, And the sweet-smelling vines have given forth fragrance, Rise, come, my friend, my fair one, yea, come away.

Till the day doth break forth, And the shadows have fled away, Turn, be like, my beloved, To a roe, or to a young one of the harts, On the mountains of separation!

The watchmen have found me, (Who are going round about the city), 'Him whom my soul have loved saw ye?'

I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, By the roes or by the hinds of the field, Stir not up nor wake the love till she please!

Lo, thou art fair, my friend, lo, thou art fair, Thine eyes are doves behind thy veil, Thy hair as a row of the goats That have shone from mount Gilead,

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

Till the day doth break forth, And the shadows have fled away, I will get me unto the mountain of myrrh, And unto the hill of frankincense.

How wonderful have been thy loves, my sister-spouse, How much better have been thy loves than wine, And the fragrance of thy perfumes than all spices.

I have come in to my garden, my sister-spouse, I have plucked my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my comb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink, Yea, drink abundantly, O beloved ones!

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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.

And men have entered into caverns of rocks, And into caves of dust, Because of the fear of Jehovah, And because of the honour of His excellency, In His rising to terrify the earth.

In that day doth man cast his idols of silver, And his idols of gold, That they have made for him to worship, To moles, and to bats,

And I have made youths their heads, And sucklings rule over them.

The appearance of their faces witnessed against them, And their sin, as Sodom, they declared, They have not hidden! Woe to their soul, For they have done to themselves evil.

My people -- its exactors are sucklings, And women have ruled over it. My people -- thy eulogists are causing to err, And the way of thy paths swallowed up.

Jehovah into judgment doth enter With elders of His people, and its heads: 'And ye, ye have consumed the vineyard, Plunder of the poor is in your houses.

Because that daughters of Zion have been haughty, And they walk stretching out the neck, And deceiving with the eyes, Walking and mincing they go, And with their feet they make a tinkling,

And lamented and mourned have her openings, Yea, she hath been emptied, on the earth she sitteth!

And taken hold have seven women on one man, In that day, saying, 'Our own bread we do eat, And our own raiment we put on, Only, let thy name be called over us, Remove thou our reproach.'

What -- to do still to my vineyard, That I have not done in it! Wherefore, I waited to the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!

And I make it a waste, It is not pruned, nor arranged, And gone up have brier and thorn, And on the thick clouds I lay a charge, From raining upon it rain.

Woe to those joining house to house, Field to field they bring near, till there is no place, And ye have been settled by yourselves In the midst of the land!

And harp, and psaltery, tabret, and pipe, And wine, have been their banquets, And the work of Jehovah they behold not, Yea, the work of His hands they have not seen.

And fed have lambs according to their leading, And waste places of the fat ones Do sojourners consume.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire devoureth stubble, And flaming hay falleth, Their root is as muck, And their flower as dust goeth up. Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of Hosts, And the saying of the Holy One of Israel despised.

Whose arrows are sharp, and all its bows bent, Hoofs of its horses as flint have been reckoned, And its wheels as a hurricane!

And I say, 'Woe to me, for I have been silent, For a man -- unclean of lips am I, And in midst of a people unclean of lips I am dwelling, Because the King, Jehovah of Hosts, have my eyes seen.'

And I say, 'Till when, O Lord?' And He saith, 'Surely till cities have been wasted without inhabitant, And houses without man, And the ground be wasted -- a desolation,

And yet in it a tenth, and it hath turned, And hath been for a burning, As a teil-tree, and as an oak, that in falling, Have substance in them, The holy seed is its substance!'

Jehovah bringeth on thee, and on thy people, And on the house of thy father, Days that have not come, Even from the day of the turning aside of Ephraim from Judah, By the king of Asshur.

And they have come, and rested all of them in the desolate valleys, And in holes of the rocks, and on all the thorns, And on all the commendable things.

And many among them have stumbled and fallen, And been broken, and snared, and captured.

And I have waited for Jehovah, Who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob, And I have looked for Him.

The people who are walking in darkness Have seen a great light, Dwellers in a land of death-shade, Light hath shone upon them.

Thou hast multiplied the nation, Thou hast made great its joy, They have joyed before Thee as the joy in harvest, As men rejoice in their apportioning spoil.

And the people have known -- all of it, Ephraim, and the inhabitant of Samaria, In pride and in greatness of heart, saying,

'Bricks have fallen, and hewn work we build, Sycamores have been cut down, and cedars we renew.'

And the people hath not turned back unto Him who is smiting it, And Jehovah of Hosts they have not sought.

And cutteth down on the right, and hath been hungry, And he devoureth on the left, And they have not been satisfied, Each the flesh of his own arm they devour.

Woe to those decreeing decrees of iniquity, And writers who have prescribed perverseness.

Do I not -- as I have done to Samaria, And to her worthless things, So do to Jerusalem and to her grievous things?

For he hath said, 'By the power of my hand I have wrought, And by my wisdom, for I have been intelligent, And I remove borders of the peoples, And their chief ones I have spoiled, And I put down as a mighty one the inhabitants,

And my hand as to a nest Getteth to the wealth of the peoples, And as a gathering of forsaken eggs All the earth I -- I have gathered, And there hath not been one moving wing, Or opening mouth, or whispering.'

And it hath come to pass, in that day, The remnant of Israel, And the escaped of the house of Jacob, Do not add any more to lean on its smiter, And have leant on Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel, in truth.

They have gone over the passage, Geba they have made a lodging place, Trembled hath Rama, Gibeah of Saul fled.

Fled away hath Madmenah, The inhabitants of the high places have hardened themselves.

And they have flown on the shoulder of the Philistines westward, Together they spoil the sons of the east, Edom and Moab sending forth their hand, And sons of Ammon obeying them.

And ye have drawn waters with joy Out of the fountains of salvation,

And ye have said in that day, Give ye praise to Jehovah, call in His name. Make known among the peoples His acts. Make mention that set on high is His name.

I have given charge to My sanctified ones, Also I have called My mighty ones for Mine anger, Those rejoicing at Mine excellency.'

And they have been troubled, Pains and pangs they take, As a travailing woman they are pained, A man at his friend they marvel, The appearance of flames -- their faces!

And I have appointed on the world evil, And on the wicked their iniquity, And have caused to cease the excellency of the proud, And the excellency of the terrible I make low.

And Ziim have lain down there, And full have been their houses of howlings, And dwelt there have daughters of an ostrich, And goats do skip there.

And Aiim have responded in his forsaken habitations, And dragons in palaces of delight, And near to come is her time, And her days are not drawn out!

Because Jehovah loveth Jacob, And hath fixed again on Israel, And given them rest on their own land, And joined hath been the sojourner to them, And they have been admitted to the house of Jacob.

And peoples have taken them, And have brought them in unto their place, And the house of Israel have inherited them, On the land of Jehovah, For men-servants and for maid-servants, And they have been captors of their captors, And have ruled over their exactors.

At rest -- quiet hath been all the earth, They have broken forth into singing.

Even firs have rejoiced over thee, Cedars of Lebanon -- saying: Since thou hast lain down, The hewer cometh not up against us.

All kings of nations -- all of them, Have lain down in honour, each in his house,

Prepare ye for his sons slaughter; Because of the iniquity of their fathers, They rise not, nor have possessed the land, Nor filled the face of the world with cities.

And I have risen up against them, (The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts,) And have cut off, in reference to Babylon, Name and remnant, and continuator and successor, The affirmation of Jehovah.

And have made it for a possession of a bittern, And ponds of waters, And daubed it with the mire of destruction, The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts!

And delighted have the first-born of the poor, And the needy in confidence lie down, And I have put to death with famine thy root, And thy remnant it slayeth.

For the waters of Dimon have been full of blood, For I set on Dimon additions, For the escaped of Moab a lion, And for the remnant of Adamah!

We have heard of the pride of Moab -- very proud, His pride, and his arrogance, and his wrath, Not right are his devices.

Because fields of Heshbon languish, The vine of Sibmah, Lords of nations did beat her choice vines, Unto Jazer they have come, They have wandered in a wilderness, Her plants have spread themselves, They have passed over a sea.

And removed have been gladness and joy from the fruitful field, And in vineyards they sing not, nor shout, Wine in the presses treadeth not the treader, Shouting I have caused to cease.

Forsaken are the cities of Aroer, For droves they are, and they have lain down, And there is none troubling.

And left in him have been gleanings, As the compassing of an olive, Two -- three berries on the top of a branch, Four -- five on the fruitful boughs, The affirmation of Jehovah, God of Israel!