The Lover to His Beloved: Oh, ²  you are beautiful, my darling! ³  Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. ⁴  Your hair is like a flock of female goats descending ⁵  from Mount Gilead.

¹ Now when Moses came down ²  from Mount Sinai with ³  the two tablets of the testimony in his hand ⁴  – when he came down ⁵  from the mountain, Moses ⁶  did not know that the skin of his face shone ⁷  while he talked with him.

As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I deal with you – you will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all of Edom – all of it! Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

Woe ¹  to those who live in ease in Zion, ²  to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria. They think of themselves as ³  the elite class of the best nation. The family ⁴  of Israel looks to them for leadership. ⁵ 

These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the Israelites defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley to Mount Halak on up to Seir. Joshua assigned this territory to the Israelite tribes, ¹ 

She summoned ¹  Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, “Is it not true that the Lord God of Israel is commanding you? Go, march to Mount Tabor! Take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun!

He and all his men ¹  went up on Mount Zalmon. He ²  took an ax ³  in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it ⁴  on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” ⁵ 

As David was going up the Mount of Olives, he was weeping as he went; his head was covered and his feet were bare. All the people who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went up.

It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. ¹  For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem ²  there will be those who survive, ³  just as the Lord has promised; the remnant ⁴  will be those whom the Lord will call. ⁵ 

Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ¹  who live on Mount Samaria! You ²  oppress the poor; you crush the needy. You say to your ³  husbands, “Bring us more to drink!” ⁴ 

Therefore, because of you, ¹  Zion will be plowed up like ²  a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount ³  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ⁴ 

At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord who commands armies, by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned, a people that are feared far and wide, a nation strong and victorious, whose land rivers divide. ¹  The tribute ²  will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion. ³ 

It will be like a hungry man dreaming that he is eating, only to awaken and find that his stomach is empty. ¹  It will be like a thirsty man dreaming that he is drinking, only to awaken and find that he is still weak and his thirst unquenched. ²  So it will be for the horde from all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.

Indeed, this is what the Lord says to me: “The Lord will be like a growling lion, like a young lion growling over its prey. ¹  Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it, it is not afraid of their shouts or intimidated by their yelling. ²  In this same way the Lord who commands armies will descend to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill. ³ 

In the future ¹  the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; ²  it will be more prominent than other hills. ³  People will stream to it.

“Micah from Moresheth ¹  prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. ²  He told all the people of Judah, ‘The Lord who rules over all ³  says, “Zion ⁴  will become a plowed field. Jerusalem ⁵  will become a pile of rubble. The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’ ⁶ 

Hezrai ¹  the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion. They will be radiant with joy ¹  over the good things the Lord provides, the grain, the fresh wine, the olive oil, the young sheep and calves he has given to them. They will be like a well-watered garden and will not grow faint or weary any more.

Hezro ¹  the Carmelite, Naarai son of Ezbai,

So David went up, along with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, formerly the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.