What is thy beloved above any beloved, O fair among women? What is thy beloved above any beloved, That thus thou hast adjured us?

(The Chorus)“Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where is your beloved hiding himself,
That we may seek him with you?”

(The Shulammite Bride)
“My beloved has gone down to his garden,
To the beds of balsam,
To feed his flock in the gardens
And gather lilies.

Your 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.

How fair and how pleasant hast thou been, O love, in delights.

Let us rise early [to go] to the vineyards; let us see whether the vine has budded, [whether] the grape blossom has opened, and [whether] the pomegranates {are in bloom}; there I will give my love to you.

(The Chorus)
“We have a little sister
And she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
On the day when she is spoken for [in marriage]?

Solomon has a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers each one is to bring 1,000 pieces of silver in exchange for its fruit.

Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;
For the Lord has spoken:
“I have reared and brought up sons,
But they have rebelled against Me and have broken away.

Even the ox has knowledge of its owner, and the ass of the place where its master puts its food: but Israel has no knowledge, my people give no thought to me.

Why do you insist on being battered? Why do you continue to rebel? Your head has a massive wound, your whole body is weak.

From the sole of the foot even to the head
There is nothing healthy in the nation’s body,
Only bruises, welts, and raw wounds,
Not pressed out or bandaged,
Nor softened with oil [as a remedy].

Your country has become waste; your towns are burned with fire; as for your land, it is overturned before your eyes, made waste and overcome by men from strange lands.

And the daughter of Zion has become like a tent in a vine-garden, like a watchman's house in a field of fruit, like a town shut in by armies.

When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?

Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow.

But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

How the faithful city has become a prostitute [idolatrous, despicable],
She who was full of justice!
Right standing with God once lodged in her,
But now murderers.

Your silver has turned to lead,
Your wine is diluted with water.

Your chiefs have gone against the Lord, they have become friends of thieves; every one of them is looking for profit and going after rewards; they do not give right decisions for the child who has no father, and they do not let the cause of the widow come before them.

For this reason the Lord, the Lord of armies, the Strong One of Israel, has said, I will put an end to my haters, and send punishment on those who are against me;

For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers and dies
And like a garden that has no water.

Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

Their land has also been filled with silver and gold
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land has also been filled with horses
And there is no end to their chariots.

Their land has also been filled with idols;
They worship the work of their hands,
That which their fingers have made.

So the common man has been humbled
And the man of importance has been abased,
But do not forgive them.

"For the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has reserved a time to oppose all who are proud and haughty, and the self-exalting they will be humbled.

Turn away from humanity, who [has] breath in its nostrils, for by what [is] it esteemed?

The strong man and the man of war; the judge and the prophet; the man who has knowledge of secret arts, and the man who is wise because of his years;

When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:

For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen because their speech and their deeds [are] against Yahweh, defying the eyes of his glory.

Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?" The sovereign Lord who commands armies has spoken.

Again, the Lord has said, Because the daughters of Zion are full of pride, and go with outstretched necks and wandering eyes, with their foot-chains sounding when they go:

And it will come about that the rest of the living in Zion, and of those who have been kept from destruction in Jerusalem, will be named holy, even everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem:

When the Lord has washed away the [moral] filth of the daughters of Zion and has cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,

Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill:

I heard the Lord of Hosts say:

Indeed, many houses will become desolate,
grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.

Therefore Sheol (the realm of the dead) has increased its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure;
And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her [boisterous] uproar and her [drunken] revelers descend into it.

Therefore the anger of the Lord has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and has struck them down.
And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies lay like rubbish in the middle of the streets.
In spite of all this God’s anger is not turned away,
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

He touched my mouth with it and said, “Listen carefully, this has touched your lips; your wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing] is taken away and your sin atoned for and forgiven.”

And He saith, 'Go, and thou hast said to this people, Hear ye -- to hear, and ye do not understand, And see ye -- to see, and ye do not know.

And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

And even if there is still a tenth part in it, it will again be burned, like a tree of the woods whose broken end is still in the earth after the tree has been cut down (the holy seed is the broken end).

When it was reported to the house of David, "Aram has joined forces with Ephraim!" the heart of the people of Ahaz trembled like forest trees in a windstorm.

and thou hast said unto him: 'Take heed, and be quiet, fear not, And let not thy heart be timid, Because of these two tails of smoking brands, For the fierceness of the anger of Rezin and Aram, And the son of Remaliah.

Because Aram has plotted evil against you [with] Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying,

"But this is what the Lord GOD has to say: ""It won't take place. It won't ever happen.

“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God [one that will convince you that God has spoken and will keep His word]; make your request as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.”

The Lord will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah—the king of Assyria is coming.”

And Jehovah said unto me, Take thee a great tablet, and write upon it with the pen of a man, For Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said Jehovah unto me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

"Because this people has refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices [over] Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

I will wait patiently for the Lord, who has rejected the family of Jacob; I will wait for him.

Listen carefully, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders [that will occur] in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

for instruction and for testimony? Surely they are speaking like this because the truth hasn't dawned on them.

But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walk in [spiritual] darkness
Will see a great Light;
Those who live in the dark land,
The Light will shine on them.

Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

For a child has been born for us; a son has been given to us. And the dominion will be on his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The Lord sends a word (message) against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel [the ten northern tribes, the kingdom of Ephraim].

Therefore the Lord raises against Ephraim adversaries from Rezin [king of Aram]
And spurs their enemies on,

Aram from [the] east and Philistines from [the] west-- and they devoured Israel with the whole mouth. He has not turned away his anger in all of this, and his hand is still stretched out.

So the LORD has cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in a single day

Therefore the Lord does not rejoice
over Israel’s young men
and has no compassion
on its fatherless and widows,
for everyone is a godless evildoer,
and every mouth speaks folly.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

"For wickedness has burned like a blaze that consumes briers and thorns; it sets thickets of the forest on fire, and skyward they swirl in a column of smoke.

The land is scorched
by the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,
and the people are like fuel for the fire.
No one has compassion on his brother.

Manasseh [devoured] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they [were] against Judah. In all of this his anger has not turned away, and still his hand [is] stretched out.

{save that they bow down under the prisoners and fall under the slain}? In all of this his anger has not turned away, and still his hand [is] stretched out.

“As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images were greater and more feared than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

So when the Lord has completed all His work [of judgment] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit [the thoughts, the declarations, and the actions] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride.”

For the Assyrian king has said,

“I have done this by the power of my [own] hand and by my wisdom,
For I have understanding and skill.
I have removed the boundaries of the peoples
And have plundered their treasures;
Like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.

“My hand has found the wealth of the people like a nest,
And as one gathers eggs that are abandoned, so I have gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing, or that opened its beak and chirped.”

Israel, even if your people were as numerous
as the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.
Destruction has been decreed;
justice overflows.

because the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will bring about destruction, as has been decreed, throughout the entire region.

He has come to Aiath, he has passed through Migron; at Micmash he deposited his baggage.

They crossed over [the] pass; Geba [is] a place of overnight lodging for us. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.

Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.

And in that day thou shalt say, Jehovah, I will praise thee; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou hast comforted me.

“Behold, God, my salvation!
I will trust and not be afraid,
For the Lord God is my strength and song;
Yes, He has become my salvation.”

Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done excellent and glorious things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.

Hyenas will howl in their castles,
And jackals in their luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time has nearly come,
And her days will not be prolonged.

And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

That thou hast taken up this simile Concerning the king of Babylon, and said, How hath the exactor ceased,

“The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the [tyrant] rulers

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

Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

All of them answer and say unto thee, Even thou hast become weak like us! Unto us thou hast become like!

Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are spread out under you,
and worms cover you.”

How hast thou fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the dawn! Thou hast been cut down to earth, O weakener of nations.

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

And -- thou hast been cast out of thy grave, As an abominable branch, raiment of the slain, Thrust through ones of the sword, Going down unto the sons of the pit, As a carcase trodden down.

Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

“I will make her a swampland and a region for screech owls, and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction.”

This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

The Lord of hosts has sworn [an oath], saying, “Just as I have intended, so it has certainly happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand—

For the Lord of hosts has decided and planned, and who can annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”

Don't be so happy, all you Philistines, just because the club that beat you has been broken! For a viper will grow out of the serpent's root, and its fruit will be a darting adder.

Send out a cry, O door! Make sounds of sorrow, O town! All your land has come to nothing, O Philistia; for there comes a smoke out of the north, and everyone keeps his place in the line.

“Then what answer will one give the messengers of the [Philistine] nation?
That the Lord has founded Zion,
And the afflicted of His people will seek and find refuge in it.”

The word about Moab. For in a night Ar of Moab has become waste, and is seen no longer; for in a night Kir of Moab has become waste, and is seen no longer.