Bride to Chorus: Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat beneath the shadow of the one whom I desired, and his fruit was sweet to my palate.
For you have been the strength of the poor, the strength of the indigent in his tribulation, a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat. For the spirit of the mighty is like a whirlwind striking against a wall.
And a man will be like someone hidden from the wind, who conceals himself from a storm, or like rivers of waters in a time of thirst, or like the shadow of a rock that juts out in a desert land.
And so shall he be a sanctification to you. But he will be a stone of offense and a rock of scandal to the two houses of Israel, and a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Since I have caused them to be far away, among the Gentiles, and since I have dispersed them among the lands, I will be a little sanctuary for them within the lands to which they have gone.
And it responded to them: 'If truly you would appoint me as king, come and rest under my shadow. But if you are not willing, let fire go forth from the bramble, and let it devour the cedars of Lebanon.' "
