Song of Solomon 8 · Isaiah 1–3

1Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me.

2I would lead you, bringing you into the house of my mother, who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.

3His left hand would be under my head. His right hand would embrace me.

4I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.

5Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Beloved Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.

6Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yah.

7Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned.

8We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for?

9If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

10I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.

11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He leased out the vineyard to keepers. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

12My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon, two hundred for those who tend its fruit.

13You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!

14Come away, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!

1The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me.

3The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.”

4Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.

5Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

6From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.

7Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

8The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.

9Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom. We would have been like Gomorrah.

10Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

11“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.

12When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?

13Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations— I can’t stand evil assemblies.

14My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.

15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

16Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.

17Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

18“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

19If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land;

20but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for Yahweh’s mouth has spoken it.”

21How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers.

22Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.

23Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

24Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies.

25I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.

26I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, a faithful town.’

27Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.

28But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed.

29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.

30For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.

31The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”

1This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.

3Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law shall go out of Zion, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem.

4He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

5House of Jacob, come, and let’s walk in the light of Yahweh.

6For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.

7Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.

8Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

9Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore don’t forgive them.

10Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty.

11The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the arrogance of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.

12For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and arrogant, and for all that is lifted up, and it shall be brought low—

13for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,

14for all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up,

15for every lofty tower, for every fortified wall,

16for all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery.

17The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the arrogance of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.

18The idols shall utterly pass away.

19Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

20In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,

21to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

22Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?

1For, behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water;

2the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder,

3the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter.

4I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them.

5The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the wicked against the honorable.

6Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, “You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand.”

7In that day he will cry out, saying, “I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing. You shall not make me ruler of the people.”

8For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

9The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.

10Tell the righteous that it will be well with them, for they will eat the fruit of their deeds.

11Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them, for the deeds of their hands will be paid back to them.

12As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.

13Yahweh stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples.

14Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses.

15What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

16Moreover Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are arrogant, and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, walking daintily as they go, jingling ornaments on their feet;

17therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion, and Yahweh will make their scalps bald.”

18In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces,

19the earrings, the bracelets, the veils,

20the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume containers, the charms,

21the signet rings, the nose rings,

22the fine robes, the capes, the cloaks, the purses,

23the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls.

24It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.

25Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war.

26Her gates shall lament and mourn. She shall be desolate and sit on the ground.