The Beloved about Her Lover: All night long on my bed I longed for my lover. I longed for him but he never appeared.

The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen on the walls!

My vineyard, which belongs to me, is at my disposal alone. The thousand shekels belong to you, O Solomon, and two hundred shekels belong to those who maintain it for its fruit.

At that time the sovereign master will remove their beautiful ankle jewelry, neck ornaments, crescent shaped ornaments,

They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.”

The people did not return to the one who struck them, they did not seek reconciliation with the Lord who commands armies.

Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory; their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim.

The officials of Zoan are fools, the officials of Memphis are misled; the rulers of her tribes lead Egypt astray.

The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and then healing them. They will turn to the Lord and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.

The Lord revealed the following message during the year in which King Sargon of Assyria sent his commanding general to Ashdod, and he fought against it and captured it.

My heart palpitates, I shake in fear; the twilight I desired has brought me terror.

O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, what I have heard from the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, I have reported to you.

They removed the defenses of Judah. At that time you looked for the weapons in the House of the Forest.

The earth will be completely devastated and thoroughly ransacked. For the Lord has decreed this judgment.

Turn aside from the way, stray off the path. Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.”

Your mind will recall the terror you experienced, and you will ask yourselves, “Where is the scribe? Where is the one who weighs the money? Where is the one who counts the towers?”

This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you!

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power?

They were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, “Don’t respond to him.”

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.