Wednesday, 05 June

9.   "When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10.   "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11.   "or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12.   "For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13.   "You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14.   "For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you. 15.   "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16.   "according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ 17.   "And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. 18.   ‘I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19.   ‘And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. 20.   ‘But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21.   "And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ –– 22.   "when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

1.   "When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, 2.   "you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3.   "You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there. 4.   "And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past–– 5.   "as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies––he shall flee to one of these cities and live; 6.   "lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. 7.   "Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’ 8.   "Now if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, 9.   "and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, 10.   "lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you. 11.   "But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12.   "then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13.   "Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you. 14.   "You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 15.   "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16.   "If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17.   "then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18.   "And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19.   "then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you. 20.   "And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21.   "Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

1.   THE BELOVED How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince’s daughter! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, The work of the hands of a skillful workman. 2.   Your navel is a rounded goblet; It lacks no blended beverage. Your waist is a heap of wheat Set about with lilies. 3.   Your two breasts are like two fawns, Twins of a gazelle. 4.   Your neck is like an ivory tower, Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon By the gate of Bath Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon Which looks toward Damascus. 5.   Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, And the hair of your head is like purple; A king is held captive by your tresses. 6.   How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, with your delights! 7.   This stature of yours is like a palm tree, And your breasts like its clusters. 8.   I said, "I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its branches." Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine, The fragrance of your breath like apples, 9.   And the roof of your mouth like the best wine. THE SHULAMITE The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved, Moving gently the lips of sleepers. 10.   I am my beloved’s, And his desire is toward me. 11.   Come, my beloved, Let us go forth to the field; Let us lodge in the villages. 12.   Let us get up early to the vineyards; Let us see if the vine has budded, Whether the grape blossoms are open, And the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. 13.   The mandrakes give off a fragrance, And at our gates are pleasant fruits , All manner, new and old, Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.

1.   Oh, that you were like my brother, Who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I should find you outside, I would kiss you; I would not be despised. 2.   I would lead you and bring you Into the house of my mother, She who used to instruct me. I would cause you to drink of spiced wine, Of the juice of my pomegranate. 3.   (TO THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM) His left hand is under my head, And his right hand embraces me. 4.   I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, Do not stir up nor awaken love Until it pleases. 5.   A RELATIVE Who is this coming up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree. There your mother brought you forth; There she who bore you brought you forth. 6.   THE SHULAMITE TO HER BELOVED Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame. 7.   Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love All the wealth of his house, It would be utterly despised. 8.   THE SHULAMITE’S BROTHERS We have a little sister, And she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister In the day when she is spoken for? 9.   If she is a wall, We will build upon her A battlement of silver; And if she is a door, We will enclose her With boards of cedar. 10.   THE SHULAMITE I am a wall, And my breasts like towers; Then I became in his eyes As one who found peace. 11.   Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon; He leased the vineyard to keepers; Everyone was to bring for its fruit A thousand silver coins. 12.   (TO SOLOMON) My own vineyard is before me. You, O Solomon, may have a thousand, And those who tend its fruit two hundred. 13.   THE BELOVED You who dwell in the gardens, The companions listen for your voice––Let me hear it! 14.   THE SHULAMITE Make haste, my beloved, And be like a gazelle Or a young stag On the mountains of spices.

21.   Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22.   And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23.   and begged Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live." 24.   So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him. 25.   Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26.   and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27.   When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28.   For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." 29.   Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30.   And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?" 31.   But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’" 32.   And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33.   But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34.   And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction." 35.   While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" 36.   As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe." 37.   And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38.   Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. 39.   When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping." 40.   And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. 41.   Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." 42.   Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age . And they were overcome with great amazement. 43.   But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.