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“When he has brought out all his own,
he goes on ahead of them,
and the sheep follow him
because they know his voice.

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However, they will never follow a stranger.
Rather, they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize
the voice of strangers.”

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Second Poem[a]

Let Me See You

Bride:

Hark! I hear the voice of my beloved.
    Look, here he comes,
leaping across the mountains[b]
    bounding over the hills.

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Footnotes

  1. Song of Songs 2:8 In her home, the bride longs for the return of her bridegroom; he appears in the window and invites her to take a walk in the freshness of springtime. How each of them wishes to reach the heart of the other. But their time together turns short. The young woman’s companions appear and liken the lovers to the marauding little foxes that people distrust (v. 15)—in spring the foxes set their cubs down amid the flowering vines. The bride responds sharply and protests her love; she invites the bridegroom to return that evening.
    God too searches for his people; obstacles ceaselessly appear and prevent the rediscoveries even when Israel is in her own land. More than once God seems to disappear. Rediscovering the new strength of its love, the community pleads for the return of the Lord, who offers his people a covenant, a union capable of fulfilling all the aspirations of human beings.
  2. Song of Songs 2:8 Mountains: i.e., of Judah (see Isa 40:3-5, 9-11; 52:7; 62:10-12).