5 For their mother has committed adultery; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will seek out my lovers; they are the ones who give me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine.’ 6 “Therefore, I will soon fence her in with thorns; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. 7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch them; she will seek them, but she will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband, because I was better off then than I am now.’ 8 “Yet until now she has refused to acknowledge that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who lavished on her the silver and gold—that they used in worshiping Baal! 9 Therefore, I will take back my grain during the harvest time and my new wine when it ripens; I will take away my wool and my flax that I had provided in order to clothe her.

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.