Let the young woman whom the king finds most attractive<n id="1" /> become queen in place of Vashti.&#8221; This seemed like a good idea to the king,<n id="2" /> so he acted accordingly.p>

For we have been sold<n id="1" /> &#8211; both I and my people &#8211; to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king.&#8221;p>

For how can I watch the calamity that will befall my people, and how can I watch the destruction of my relatives?&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">How faint is the whisper<n id="2" /> we hear of him!p> <p class="poetry">But who can understand the thunder of his power?&#8221;p>

Nowhere in all the land could women be found who were as beautiful as Job&#8217;s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance alongside their brothers.p>

<p class="poetry">Whatever you find to do with your hands,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">do it with all your might,p> <p class="poetry">because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the place where you will eventually go.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Draw me<n id="1" /> after you; let us hurry!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">May the king<n id="3" /> bring<n id="4" /> me into his<n id="5" /> bedroom chambers!<n id="6" />p> <p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Maidensi>b><n id="7" /> <b><i>to the Lover:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">We will<n id="8" /> rejoice and delight in you;<n id="9" />p> <p class="poetry">we will praise<n id="10" /> your love more than wine.p> <p class="poetry"><b><i>The Beloved to Her Lover:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">How rightly<n id="11" /> the young women<n id="12" /> adore you!p>

<p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Lover to His Beloved:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">If you do not know, O most beautiful of women,p> <p class="poetry">simply follow the tracks of my flock,p> <p class="poetry">and pasture your little lambsp> <p class="poetry">beside the tents of the shepherds.p>

<p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Beloved to the Maidens:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">I adjure you,<n id="1" /> O maidens of Jerusalem,p> <p class="poetry">by the gazelles and by the young does<n id="2" /> of the open fields:<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not awaken or arouse<n id="4" /> love<n id="5" /> until it pleases!<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">The fig tree has budded,p> <p class="poetry">the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance.p> <p class="poetry">Arise, come away my darling;p> <p class="poetry">my beautiful one, come away with me!&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Lover to His Beloved:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">O my dove,<n id="1" /> in the clefts of the rock,p> <p class="poetry">in the hiding places of the mountain crags,p> <p class="poetry">let me see your face,p> <p class="poetry">let me hear your voice;p> <p class="poetry">for your voice is sweet,p> <p class="poetry">and your face is lovely.p>

<t /><p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Beloved to Her Lover:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">Until the dawn arrives<n id="1" /> and the shadows flee,p> <p class="poetry">turn,<n id="2" /> my beloved &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">be like a gazelle or a young stagp> <p class="poetry">on the mountain gorges.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Beloved to the Maidens:i>b>p><n id="1" /><p class="poetry">I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem,p> <p class="poetry">by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do not awake or arouse love until it pleases!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Come out, O maidens of Zion,p> <p class="poetry">and gaze upon King Solomon!p> <p class="poetry">He is wearing the crown with which his mother crowned himp> <p class="poetry">on his wedding day,p> <p class="poetry">on the most joyous day of his life!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">But she is unique!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">My dove, my perfect one!p> <p class="poetry">She is the special daughter<n id="2" /> of her mother,p> <p class="poetry">she is the favorite<n id="3" /> of the one who bore her.p> <p class="poetry">The maidens<n id="4" /> saw her and complimented her;<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">the queens and concubines praised her:p>

<p class="poetry">Seven women will grab hold ofp> <p class="poetry">one man at that time.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will say, &#8220;We will provide<n id="2" /> our own food,p> <p class="poetry">we will provide<n id="3" /> our own clothes;p> <p class="poetry">but let us belong to you<n id="4" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">take away our shame!&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Indeed<n id="1" /> Israel<n id="2" /> is the vineyard of the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,p> <p class="poetry">the people<n id="3" /> of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.p> <p class="poetry">He waited for justice, but look what he got &#8211; disobedience!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">He waited for fairness, but look what he got &#8211; cries for help!<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">who turn darkness into light and light into darkness,p> <p class="poetry">who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Ephraim&#8217;s leader is Samaria,p> <p class="poetry">and Samaria&#8217;s leader is the son of Remaliah.p> <p class="poetry">If your faith does not remain firm,p> <p class="poetry">then you will not remain secure.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

At that time<n id="1" /> the sovereign master will use a razor hired from the banks of the Euphrates River,<n id="2" /> the king of Assyria, to shave the head and the pubic hair;<n id="3" /> it will also shave off the beard.