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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!”