Title: Songs of Solomon Young Woman
Series: When We Say God....
2 Kiss me and kiss me again,
for your love is sweeter than wine.
3 How pleasing is your fragrance; your name is like the spreading fragrance of scented oils. No wonder all the young women love you!
4 Take me with you; come, let’s run! The king has brought me into his bedroom. Young Women of Jerusalem. How happy we are for you, O king.
We praise your love even more than wine.
Young Woman. How right they are to adore you.
5 I am dark but beautiful, O women of Jerusalem— dark as the tents of Kedar, dark as the curtains of Solomon’s tents. 6 Don’t stare at me because I am dark—the sun has darkened my skin.
My brothers were angry with me; they forced me to care for their vineyards, so I couldn’t care for myself—my own vineyard.7 Tell me, my love, where are you leading your flock today?
Where will you rest your sheep at noon?
For why should I wander like a prostitute[b]
among your friends and their flocks?
Young Man 8 If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman, follow the trail of my flock, and graze your young goats by the shepherds’ tents.
9 You are as exciting, my darling, as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.10 How lovely are your cheeks; your earrings set them afire!
How lovely is your neck, enhanced by a string of jewels. 11 We will make for you earrings of gold
and beads of silver.
Isaiah 1:4-8 Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness— only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil. […]
Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard, like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest, like a helpless city under siege.
1:22-27 See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her— but now murderers! Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them. Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. I will turn my hand against you;I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.” Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness.
