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THE WHOLE CREATION INVOKED TO PRAISE

Praise ye Jehovah.

JEHOVAH

Praise ye Jehovah from the heavens:

Praise him in the heights.

Praise ye him, all his angels:

Praise ye him, all his host.
Praise ye him, sun and moon:
Praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,

And ye waters that are above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of Jehovah;

For he commanded, and they were created.
He hath also established them for ever and ever:
He hath made a decree which shall not pass away.
Praise Jehovah from the earth,

Ye sea-monsters, and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and vapor;
Stormy wind, fulfilling his word;
Mountains and all hills;
Fruitful trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle;

Creeping things and flying birds;
Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and virgins;
Old men and children:

Let them praise the name of Jehovah;

For his name alone is exalted;

His glory is above the earth and the heavens.

And he hath lifted up the horn of his people,

The praise of all his saints;

Even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye Jehovah.

THE SONG OF SONGS

The Song of songs, which is Solomon's.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth;
For thy love is better than wine.
Thine oils have a goodly fragrance;
Thy name is as oil poured forth;
Therefore do the virgins love thee.
Draw me; we will run after thee:

The king hath brought me into his chambers;

We will be glad and rejoice in thee;

We will make mention of thy love more than of wine: Rightly do they love thee.

I am black, but comely,
O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
As the tents of Kedar,

As the curtains of Solomon.

Look not upon me, because I am swarthy,
Because the sun hath scorched me.

My mother's sons were incensed against me;
They made me keeper of the vineyards;
But mine own vineyard have I not kept.
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,
Where thou feedest thy flock,

Where thou makest it to rest at noon:
For why should I be as one that is veiled
Beside the flocks of thy companions?

If thou know not, O thou fairest among women,
Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,
And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.

I have compared thee, O my love,
To a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.

Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair,

Thy neck with strings of jewels.

We will make thee plaits of gold
With studs of silver.

While the king sat at his table,

My spikenard sent forth its fragrance.

My beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh,

That lieth betwixt my breasts.

My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna-flowers

In the vineyards of En-gedi.

Behold, thou art fair, my love;

Behold, thou art fair;

Thine eyes are as doves.

Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant:

Also our couch is green.

The beams of our house are cedars,

And our rafters are firs.

I am a rose of Sharon,

A lily of the valleys.

As a lily among thorns,

So is my love among the daughters.

As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood,
So is my beloved among the sons.

I sat down under his shadow with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

He brought me to the banqueting-house,
And his banner over me was love.

Stay ye me with raisins, refresh me with apples;
For I am sick from love.

His left hand is under my head,

And his right hand doth embrace me.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the roes, or by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up, nor awake my love,
Until he please.

The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh,
Leaping upon the mountains,

Skipping upon the hills.

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart:

Behold, he standeth behind our wall;

He looketh in at the windows;

He glanceth through the lattice.

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My beloved spake, and said unto me,

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

For, lo, the winter is past;

The rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of the singing of birds is come,

And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;
The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs,

And the vines are in blossom;

They give forth their fragrance,

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock,

In the covert of the steep place,

Let me see thy countenance,

Let me hear thy voice;

For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

Take us the foxes, the little foxes,
That spoil the vineyards;

For our vineyards are in blossom.

My beloved is mine, and I am his:

He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,

Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart Upon the mountains of Bether.

By night on my bed

I sought him whom my soul loveth:

I sought him, but I found him not.

I said, I will rise now, and go about the city;
In the streets and in the broad ways

I will seek him whom my soul loveth:

I sought him, but I found him not.

The watchmen that go about the city found me;

To whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a little that I passed from them,

When I found him whom my soul loveth:

I held him, and would not let him go,

Until I had brought him into my mother's house.

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south;

Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden,

And eat his precious fruits.

I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride:

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.

Eat, O friends;

Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

I was asleep, but my heart waked:

It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying,
Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled;
For my head is filled with dew,

My locks with the drops of the night.

I have put off my garment; how shall I put it on?

I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door,
And my heart was moved for him.

I rose up to open to my beloved;
And my hands dropped with myrrh,
And my fingers with liquid myrrh,
Upon the handles of the bolt.

I opened to my beloved;

But my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone.
My soul had failed me when he spake:

I sought him, but I could not find him;

I called him, but he gave me no answer.

The watchmen that go about the city found me,

They smote me, they wounded me;

The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

If ye find my beloved,

That ye tell him, that I am sick from love.

What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
O thou fairest among women?

What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
That thou dost so adjure us?

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