1 The Song of aSongs, which is Solomon’s.
The Bride Confesses Her Love
She1
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your blove is better than wine;
3 your canointing oils are fragrant;
your dname is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
4 eDraw me after you; flet us run.
gThe king has brought me into his chambers.
Others
We will hexult and rejoice in you;
we will extol byour love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.
She
5 I am very dark, but ilovely,
O jdaughters of Jerusalem,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mmother’s sons were angry with me;
they made me nkeeper of othe vineyards,
but pmy own vineyard I have not kept!
7 Tell me, you qwhom my soul loves,
where you rpasture your flock,
where you make it slie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils herself
beside the flocks of your tcompanions?
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
8 If you do not know,
O umost beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your young goats
beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 I compare you, vmy love,
to wa mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 xYour cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
Others
11 We will make for you2 ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
She
12 While ythe king was on his couch,
my znard gave forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of amyrrh
that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of bhenna blossoms
in the vineyards of cEngedi.
He
15 dBehold, eyou are beautiful, fmy love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your geyes are doves.
She
16 Behold, you are beautiful, hmy beloved, truly idelightful.
Our couch is green;
17 the beams of our house are jcedar;
our rafters are jpine.
1 I am a rose3 of Sharon,
ka lily of the valleys.
He
2 As a lily among brambles,
so is lmy love among the young women.
She
3 As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my mbeloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat nin his shadow,
and his ofruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He pbrought me to the banqueting house,4
and his qbanner over me was love.
5 Sustain me with rraisins;
refresh me with apples,
sfor I am sick with love.
6 His tleft hand is under my head,
and his right hand uembraces me!
7 I vadjure you,5 O wdaughters of Jerusalem,
by xthe gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath
1 After this there was a ofeast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by pthe Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic1 called Bethesda,2 which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and qparalyzed.3 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, r“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 rAnd at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
sNow that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews4 said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and tit is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for uJesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! vSin no more, wthat nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews xwere persecuting Jesus, ybecause he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
Jesus Is Equal with God
18 This was why the Jews zwere seeking all the more to kill him, abecause not only was he bbreaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God chis own Father, dmaking himself equal with God.
