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SCRIPTURE REFERENCES FOR THIS SERMON:

Song of Solomon 2:7-3:5

2:7 The Beloved to the Maidens:

I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields:

Do not awaken or arouse love until it pleases!

8 The Beloved about Her Lover:

Listen! My lover is approaching!

Look! Here he comes,

leaping over the mountains,

bounding over the hills!

9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag.

Look! There he stands behind our wall,

gazing through the window,

peering through the lattice.

10 The Lover to His Beloved:

My lover spoke to me, saying:

“Arise, my darling;

My beautiful one, come away with me!

11 Look! The winter has passed,

the winter rains are over and gone.

12 Blossoms have appeared in the land;

the time for pruning and singing has come;

the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree has ripened its figs;

the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance.

Arise, come away my darling;

my beautiful one, come away with me!”

14 The Lover to His Beloved:

O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

in the hiding places of the mountain crags,

let me see your face;

let me hear your voice;

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely.

15 The Beloved to Her Lover:

Catch the foxes for us,

the little foxes,

that ruin the vineyards—

for our vineyard is in bloom.

16 The Beloved about Her Lover:

My lover is mine and I am his;

he grazes among the lilies.

17 The Beloved to Her Lover:

Until the dawn arrives and the shadows flee,

turn, my beloved—

be like a gazelle or a young stag

on the mountain gorges.

3:1 The Beloved about Her Lover:

All night long on my bed

I longed for my lover.

I longed for him, but he never appeared.

2 “I will arise and look all around throughout the town,

and throughout the streets and squares;

I will search for my beloved.”

I searched for him, but I did not find him.

3 The night watchmen found me—the ones who guard the city walls.

“Have you seen my beloved?”

4 Scarcely had I passed them by

when I found my beloved!

I held onto him tightly and would not let him go

until I brought him to my mother’s house,

to the bedroom chamber of the one who conceived me.

5 The Beloved to the Maidens:

I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields:

“Do not awaken or arouse love until it pleases!”