Jesus at the Feast of Booths
1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would mnot go about in Judea, because the Jews1 were nseeking to kill him. 2 Now othe Jews’ pFeast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers2 said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, qshow yourself to the world.” 5 For rnot even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, s“My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it thates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not3 going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were ulooking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” vothers said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet wfor fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
Suffering as a Christian
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to ltest you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But mrejoice insofar as you nshare Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are oinsulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the pSpirit of glory1 and of God rests upon you. 15 qBut let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone rsuffers as a sChristian, let him not be tashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment uto begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for vthose who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And
w“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”2
19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will xentrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master hand.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with lilies.
3 tYour two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 uYour neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,
which looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Carmel,
and your flowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.
6 How beautiful and pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!1
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
She
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.3
10 wI am my beloved’s,
and his desire is for me.
The Bride Gives Her Love
11 Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;4
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
and xsee whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape yblossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The zmandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all achoice fruits,
new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity
1 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!
He has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his sfootstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up twithout mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.
3 He has cut down in fierce anger
all the might of Israel;
he has uwithdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 He has vbent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes;
in the tent of the daughter of Zion,
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel;
he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its wstrongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
mourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins his meeting place;
the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 The Lord has scorned his altar,
disowned his sanctuary;
he has xdelivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8 The Lord determined to lay in ruins
the wall of the daughter of Zion;
he stretched out the ymeasuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament;
they languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and zher prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
asit on the ground in silence;
they have bthrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are spent with weeping;
cmy stomach churns;
my bile is poured out to the ground
dbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because einfants and babies faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I fliken to you, that I may comfort you,
O gvirgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is vast as the sea;
hwho can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen for you
ifalse and deceptive visions;
they have not jexposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and kwag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
the lperfection of beauty,
mthe joy of all the earth?”
16 All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; we see it!”
17 nThe Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago;
he has thrown down without pity;
he has made the enemy orejoice over you
and exalted the might of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!
19 “Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
pPour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
qat the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women reat the fruit of their womb,
the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
lie the syoung and the old;
my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering without pity.
22 You summoned as if to a festival day
my tterrors on every side,
and on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
those whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.
