Origen, Homilies on the Song of Songs — Homily 1
Latin source: J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia Latina 23, cols. 1117–1130 (Jerome's Latin version of Origen's Homiliae in Canticum canticorum ), via the Corpus Corporum digital text (University of Zurich). This English translation is in the public domain.
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PREFACE OF JEROME (to the most blessed Pope Damasus)
Origen, while in his other books he has surpassed all men, in the Song of Songs has surpassed himself. For having completed ten volumes, which come almost to twenty thousand lines, he expounds — first the Seventy Translators, then Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion, and finally the fifth edition, which he writes that he found on the Actian shore — so magnificently and so plainly, that it seems to me there has been fulfilled in him what is said: The king has brought me into his chamber. And so, laying aside that work — because it is a matter of vast leisure, labor, and expense to render into the Latin tongue such great things, so worthy a work — these two treatises, which he composed after the manner of everyday speech for little ones still at the breast, I have translated faithfully rather than elegantly: offering you a taste of his meaning, not a full meal; that you may observe how greatly those things are to be esteemed which are great, when even these little ones can give such pleasure.
HOMILY 1
[§1] Just as we have learned through Moses that certain things are not only holy, but holy of holies; and others not only sabbaths, but sabbaths of sabbaths; so now we are taught, when Solomon writes, that there are certain things not only Songs, but the Song of Songs. Blessed indeed is he who enters the holy place, but more blessed he who enters the holy of holies. Blessed is he who keeps sabbaths, but more blessed he who keeps the sabbath of sabbaths. Blessed likewise is he too who understands the songs and sings them. For no one sings except at festivals; but far more blessed is he who sings the Song of Songs. And as he who enters the holy place still has need of many things, that he may be able to go in to the holy of holies; and he who celebrates the sabbath which was appointed by the Lord for the people still has much that is necessary, that he may keep the sabbath of sabbaths: in the same way, one is found only with difficulty who, passing through all the songs that are contained in the Scriptures, is able to ascend to the Song of Songs. You must go out from Egypt, and, having gone out from the land of Egypt, pass through the Red Sea, that you may be able to sing the first song, saying: Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously has he been glorified. But although you have spoken the first song, you are still far from the Song of Songs. Traverse the land of the desert spiritually, until you come to the well which the kings dug, that there you may sing the second song. After this, come to the neighborhood of the holy Land, that, stationed upon the bank of the Jordan, you may sing the song of Moses, saying: Give ear, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Again you have need to serve as a soldier under Jesus, and to possess the holy Land by inheritance, and that the bee may prophesy to you, and the bee judge you — Deborah is interpreted "bee" — that you may be able to learn also that song which is contained in the book of Judges. Then, ascending to the book of Kingdoms, come to the song sung when David was delivered from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, and said: The Lord is my firmament, and my strength, and my refuge, and my deliverer. You must come as far as Isaiah, that with him you may say: I will sing a song to my beloved concerning my vineyard. And when you have passed through them all, mount up to higher things, that, a beautiful soul together with the Bridegroom, you may sing this Song of Songs as well.
[§2] Of how many persons it consists, I am uncertain. But, by your prayers and the Lord's revealing, I seem to have found four persons in it: a man and a bride; with the bride, maidens; with the bridegroom, bands of companions. Some things are said by the bride, others by the bridegroom, some by the young girls, some by the companions of the bridegroom. For it is fitting that at a wedding there should be a throng of maidens with the bride, and a crowd of young men with the bridegroom. Do not seek all this outside: do not look beyond those who have been saved by the preaching of the Gospel. Understand Christ to be the Bridegroom, and the Church to be the Bride without spot or wrinkle, of whom it is written: That he might present to himself a glorious Church, having neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing, but that it should be holy and unblemished. But those who, though they are faithful, are nevertheless not such as the word just described, but seem to have obtained salvation only after a certain measure — understand that the souls of believers are the maidens with the bride; while the Angels and those who have come to the perfect man, understand to be the men with the bridegroom. Hence, then, there appear to me four ranks: one man and one woman, and two choirs singing in harmony with one another — the bride singing with the young girls, the bridegroom singing with his fellows. And when you have understood this, hear the Song of Songs, and make haste to understand it, and to say with the bride the things which the bride says, that you may hear what the bride also heard. But if you cannot say with the bride the things she said, that you may hear the things spoken to the bride, make haste at least to become one with the companions of the bridegroom. And further, if you are lower even than they, be with the maidens who abide amid the bride's delights. For these are, in this book, at once the characters of a drama and of a wedding-song — from which the Gentiles too laid claim to the wedding-song and took up a poem of this kind. For the Song of Songs is indeed a wedding-song. First the bride prays; and at once, in the midst of her prayers, she is heard: she sees the bridegroom present, she sees the maidens joined to her company. Then the bridegroom answers her; and after the bridegroom's words, while he suffers for her salvation, the companions answer, saying that, until the bridegroom is at his rest and rises up from his passion, they will make certain ornaments for the bride. But now the very words must be set down, in which first the voice of the bride making entreaty is heard.
[§3] Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Of which this is the sense: How long will my bridegroom send me kisses through Moses, send me kisses through the prophets? Now I long to touch his own lips; let him come himself, let him himself descend. She prays, therefore, to the Father of the bridegroom, and says to him: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. And because she is such that there is fulfilled upon her that prophetic word in which it is said: While you are yet speaking, I will say, Behold, here I am, the Father hears the bride of the bridegroom, and sends his Son. Seeing him whose coming she had implored, she ceases to pray, and speaks to him face to face: For your breasts are better than wine, and the fragrance of your ointments is above all spices. The Bridegroom, therefore, Christ, sent by the Father, comes anointed to the bride, and it is said to him: You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. If the bridegroom has touched me, I too shall be of good fragrance; I too am anointed with ointments, and his ointments reach even to me, that I may be able to say with the Apostles: We are the good fragrance of Christ in every place. But we, when we hear these things, still reek with sins and vices, of which the penitent prophet speaks: My scars have festered and are corrupted, because of my foolishness. Sin is of a foul odor; virtue breathes forth ointments, the figures of which you may read again in Exodus. For there too you will find storax, onycha, galbanum, and the rest. These indeed for incense. Then, for the perfumer's work, various ointments are taken, among which are spikenard and storax. And God, who made heaven and earth, speaks to Moses, saying: I have filled them with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, that they may make the works of the perfumer's art. God even teaches perfumers.
[§4] If these things are not understood spiritually, are they not mere fables? Unless they have something of a secret in them, are they not unworthy of God? It is necessary, therefore, that he who knows how to hear the Scriptures spiritually — or who at least does not yet know, but desires to know — should strive with all his labor not to live according to flesh and blood, that he may become worthy of the spiritual secrets, and (to speak somewhat more boldly) worthy of a spiritual longing or love. For there is also a spiritual love. And just as there is a certain carnal food and another spiritual, and one drink of the flesh and another of the spirit, so there is a certain carnal love coming from Satan, and another love of the spirit, taking its beginning from God. And no one can be possessed by two loves. If you are a lover of the flesh, you do not receive the love of the spirit. If you have despised all bodily things — I do not say flesh or blood only, but silver and possessions, and the earth itself, and heaven itself (for these shall pass away) — if you have scorned all these, and your soul is bound to none of them, nor are you held back by any love of vices, you can receive spiritual love. This, because the occasion has arisen, [I say] that we might say something of spiritual love. Now it is profitable for us to keep Solomon's precept — or rather the precept of him who spoke through Solomon concerning wisdom, saying thus: Love her, and she will keep you; encompass her, and she will exalt you; honor her, that she may embrace you. There is a certain spiritual embrace; and would that it might come to pass that a deeper embrace of the bridegroom enclose my bride, that I too may be able to say what is written in the same book: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.
[§5] Therefore: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. It is the custom of the Scriptures to put the imperative mood for the optative, as in that place: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name — for "would that it be hallowed"; and now in the present passage: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth , for that which is "would that he might kiss me." Then she beholds the bridegroom: he comes anointed with ointments. Nor could he come to the bride otherwise, nor was it fitting that the Father should send the Son to the wedding otherwise. With various ointments he anointed him, and made him Christ; he comes breathing forth diverse fragrances, and hears, For your breasts are better than wine. Fittingly the divine word names one and the same thing, according to the quality of the places, by different words. When a victim is offered in the Law, and it wishes to show the understanding, it speaks of the "little breast of separation." But when someone reclines with Jesus and enjoys the sharing of his thoughts, it addresses not the "little breast," as above, but the "breast." Further, when the bride speaks to the bridegroom — because a nuptial song is being brought in — it names neither the "little breast," as in the sacrifice, nor the "breast," as in John the disciple, but "breasts," saying: For your breasts are better than wine. Share, as a bride, in the thoughts of the bridegroom, and you will know that thoughts of this kind make one drunk and glad. And just as the Lord's inebriating cup is altogether excellent, so the bridegroom's breasts are better than all wine: For your breasts are better than wine. In the midst of her prayers she turns her words to the bridegroom: And the fragrance of your ointments is above all spices. Not with one, but with all ointments the bridegroom comes anointed. But if he will deign to come also to my soul, made his bride — how beautiful must she be, that she may draw him to herself from heaven, that she may make him come down to earth, that he may come to his beloved! With what beauty must she be adorned, with what love must she burn, that he may speak to her the things he spoke to the perfect bride: For your neck, for your eyes, for your cheeks, for your hands, for your belly, for your shoulders, for your feet! — concerning which, if the Lord grant it, we shall discourse: how the members of the bride are diversified, and how a different praise is spoken of each part, that after the discussion we may labor to have the like said also of our own soul. Better, then, are your breasts than wine. If you have seen the bridegroom, then you will understand that it is true which is said: For your breasts are better than wine, and the fragrance of your ointments is above all spices. Many have possessed spices. The queen of the south brought spices to Solomon, and many others possessed spices; but however much anyone may have had, they cannot be compared to the fragrances of Christ, of which the bride now says: The fragrance of your ointments is above all spices. I think that Moses too had spices, and Aaron, and each one of the prophets. But if I have seen Christ, and perceived the sweetness and fragrance of his ointments, at once I pronounce sentence, saying: The fragrance of your ointments is above all spices. Your name is ointment poured out — a prophetic mystery. Only let the name of Jesus come into the world, and the ointment is proclaimed as poured out. In the Gospel too a woman, taking an alabaster jar of ointment of costly spikenard, poured it over the head and feet of Jesus. Observe diligently what the two women poured over the head of the Savior. For the sinful woman is shown to have poured over his feet, and she who is not called a sinner over his head. Observe, I say, and you will find, in the Gospel reading, that not fables and tales were written by the Evangelists, but mysteries. And so the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment — if what the sinful woman had is to be referred to the feet, and what the woman who was no sinner had, to the head. Nor is it any wonder that the house was filled with the fragrance, since this world has been filled with it. In the same place it is written of Simon the leper and his house. I think that the leper, the prince of this world, is also called "Simon the leper," whose house at the coming of Christ was filled with sweet fragrance, when the sinful woman did penance, and the holy woman drenched the head of Jesus with the fragrances of the ointment.
[§6] Your name is ointment poured out. As ointment, which by its outpouring scatters its fragrance far and wide, so the name of Christ has been poured out. Over all the earth Christ is named, in all the world the Lord is proclaimed. For his name is ointment poured out. Now the name of Moses is heard, which before was shut up only within the narrow bounds of Judea. For not one of the Greeks makes mention of him, nor in any history of Gentile letters do we find anything written about him or the rest. As soon as Jesus shone forth in the world, he led forth with him the Law and the Prophets, and truly was fulfilled, Your name is ointment poured out. Therefore the maidens have loved you. Because through the Holy Spirit the love of God has been poured out in our hearts, fittingly the name of "outpouring" is introduced: Your name is ointment poured out. As she says this, the bride beholds the maidens. When she was entreating the Father of the bridegroom, and speaking face to face to the bridegroom himself, the maidens were not yet present. But in the midst of her prayers the choir of young girls enters, and is praised by the bride's words: Therefore the maidens have loved you, and drawn you. And the maidens answer: We will run after you, toward the fragrance of your ointments. How beautifully do the bridegroom's attendants not yet have the confidence of the bride! The bride does not follow behind his back, but enters at his side. She grasps the bridegroom's right hand, and her hand is held by the bridegroom's right hand. But the handmaids enter after him. There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number. One is my dove, my perfect one; she is the only one of her mother, the only one of her who bore her. After you, therefore, we will run, toward the fragrance of your ointments. To those who walk with all uprightness it is said: After you we will run, toward the fragrance of your ointments, according to that word: I have finished the course; and that: Those who run in the stadium all run indeed, but one receives the prize. The prize is Christ; and these maidens, whom we recognize as standing outside because of the beginning of their love, according to that example — But the friend of the bridegroom, standing and hearing him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice — undergo something of the same kind. When the bridegroom enters, they remain outside; but the bride — beautiful, perfect, without spot, without wrinkle — having entered into the bridegroom's chamber, into the royal inner sanctuary, returns to the maidens, and announces to them the things which she alone has beheld, and says:
[§7] The king has brought me into his chamber. She does not say, "he has brought us, the many, into his chamber." The many remain outside; into the chamber the bride alone enters, that she may see the dark and hidden treasures, and report to the maidens: The king has brought me into his chamber. Again the maidens, that is, the very great throng of brides who are but beginning, when the bride has entered the bridegroom's chamber and beholds the riches of her husband, while they await his coming, sing joyfully together: We will exult and be glad in you. They rejoice at the bride's perfection. There is no rivalry in the virtues. This love is clean, this love is without vice. We will exult and be glad in you; we will love your breasts. She who is the greater already enjoys the milk of your breasts, and says, exulting: Better are your breasts than wine. But these who bring exultation and gladness — for they are maidens — bring love, and say: We will exult and be glad in you. We will love — not "we love," but "we will love" — your breasts above wine. Then they speak to the bride: Equity has loved you. They praise the bride, giving her the name of "equity" from her own virtues: Equity has loved you. Again the bride answers the maidens:
[§8] I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Do not look at me, because I am darkened, for the sun has looked askance at me. She is beautiful indeed, and I can find in what way the bride is beautiful. But we ask how she is black, and, without whiteness, is fair. She did penance for her sins, and conversion bestowed beauty upon her; and therefore she is sung as beautiful. But because she is not yet cleansed from all the filth of her sins, not yet washed in salvation, she is called black; yet she does not remain in that dark color. And so she becomes white, when she rises to greater things, and begins to ascend from lowly things to the heights, and it is said of her: Who is this that comes up made white? And, that the mystery of the perfected one may be described more plainly, it does not say, as is read in most manuscripts, leaning upon her kinsman — that is, ἐπιστηριζομένη — but ἐπιστηθιζομένη , that is, reclining upon his breast. And significantly it is said of the soul of the bride and of the word, "reclining upon his breast," because there is the ruling part of our heart. Whence, departing from carnal things, we ought to perceive spiritual things, and to understand that it is far better to love thus than to cease from love. She ascends, then, reclining upon the breast of her kinsman; and she who now, at the opening of the Song, is set down as black, is sung of, at the end of the wedding-song: Who is this that comes up made white? We have understood how the bride is both black and beautiful. But if you too do not do penance, beware lest your soul be called black, and foul, and you be disfigured with a twofold ugliness: black because of past sins, and foul because you persist in the same vices. But if you do penance, your soul will be black because of former offenses, but because of penance it will have something, so to speak, of an Ethiopian beauty. And because I have once named the Ethiopian, I wish to summon Scripture as witness to this discourse. Aaron and Miriam murmur, because Moses has an Ethiopian woman for a wife. And now Moses takes an Ethiopian woman for a wife, since his law has passed over to this Ethiopian woman of ours. Let Aaron murmur — the priesthood of the Jews; let Miriam also murmur — their Synagogue: Moses cares nothing for the murmuring; he loves his Ethiopian woman, of whom it is also said elsewhere through the Prophet: From the ends of the rivers of Ethiopia they shall bring offerings; and again: Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands to God before others. Beautifully, "before others." For just as, in the Gospel, that woman with the issue of blood anticipated the healing of the synagogue-ruler's daughter, so Ethiopia, while Israel was sick, was healed. By their offense, salvation came to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem. And you, soul of the Church, turn your word to the daughters of Jerusalem, and say: The bridegroom loves me more, he cherishes me more than you, who are many daughters of Israel. You stand outside, and see the bride entering the chamber. Let no one doubt that she who is called black is a black woman who is beautiful. Who are we, that we should come to know God, that we should proclaim the Songs of the Song, that we should come from the ends of Ethiopia, from the end of the earth, to hear the wisdom of the true Solomon? And when the voice of the Savior is heard thundering: The queen of the south shall come at the judgment, and shall condemn the men of this generation, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here — hear the mystic things that are said. The queen of the south comes from the ends of the earth: the Church; and she condemns the men of this generation, that is, the Jews given over to flesh and blood. She comes from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon — not of him who is proclaimed in the Old Testament, but of this one who in the Gospel is greater than Solomon. I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem: black as the tents of Kedar, beautiful as the curtains of Solomon. For to both she answers: I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. The very names too agree with the bride's beauty. The Hebrews say that Kedar is interpreted "darkness." I am black, then, as the tents of Kedar, as the Ethiopians; beautiful, as the curtains of Solomon, which he arranged for the ornament of the tabernacle at that time when he built the temple with the utmost zeal and labor. For Solomon was rich, and no one surpassed him in all his wisdom. As one of these things: I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Do not look at me, because I am darkened. She has given satisfaction concerning her blackness, and, having turned through penance to better things, she announces to the daughters of Jerusalem that she is indeed black, yet beautiful, according to what we have expounded above, and says: Do not look at me, because I am darkened. Do not, she says, marvel that I am of a swarthy color: the sun has looked askance at me — for with its full ray the brightness of its light shone upon me, and I was darkened by its heat. For I did not receive its light within me as was fitting, as the dignity of the sun required. By their offense salvation came to the Gentiles, and again, by the unbelief of the Gentiles, knowledge to Israel. You have both in the Apostle.
[§9] The sons of my mother fought against me. It must be considered how the bride says, The sons of my mother fought against me, and when a fight of her brothers rose up against her. Look at Paul, the persecutor of the Church, and you will understand how a son of her mother fought against her. The persecutors of the Church did penance, and her adversaries, turned back again to their sister's standards, preached the faith which before they destroyed. In this prophetic spirit the bride now, singing, says: They fought against me; they set me as a keeper in the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept. I, the Church, I, the bride, I, without spot, have been set as keeper of very many vineyards by the sons of my mother, who once had fought against me. Bound by which anxiety and care, while I keep many vineyards, I have not guarded my own vineyard. Understand this for me of Paul, or of any other of the saints, who is anxious for the salvation of all; and you will see how, not keeping his own vineyard, he keeps the vineyards of others. And how, that he may gain others, he himself in certain respects suffers loss. And though he was free from all, he made himself a servant, that he might gain all: made weak to the weak, a Jew to the Jews; to those who were under the Law, as under the Law, and the rest — and he says, my own vineyard I have not kept. Then she beholds the bridegroom, who, when beheld, has withdrawn. And frequently he does this throughout the whole song, which, unless a man experiences it himself, he cannot understand. Often — God is my witness — I have beheld the bridegroom drawing near to me, and being present with me as much as possible; then, when he suddenly withdrew, I could not find what I was seeking. Again, therefore, I desire his coming, and sometimes he comes again; and when he has appeared, and been grasped by my hands, again he slips away; and when he has slipped away, again he is sought by me. And this I do repeatedly, until I truly hold him, and go up, leaning upon my kinsman.
[§10] Tell me, you whom my soul has loved, where you feed, where you lie down at noon. I do not ask for other times — when you feed in the evening, when at dawn, when at the sun's setting: I seek that time when, in the full-flowering day, in full light, you dwell in the splendor of your majesty. Tell me, you whom my soul has loved, where you feed, where you lie down at noon. Observe diligently wherever you read of "noon." At Joseph's, his brothers hold their meal at noon. At noon the angels are received into Abraham's hospitality, and other things of this kind. Seek, and you will find that the divine Scripture takes up no word in vain or by chance. Who, do you think, is worthy among us to reach even to noon, and to see where the bridegroom feeds, where he lies down? Tell me, you whom my soul has loved, where you feed, where you lie down at noon. For unless you tell me, I begin to be tossed about in wandering; and while I seek you, I run into the flocks of others; and because I am ashamed before others, I begin to cover my face and my mouth. For I am a beautiful bride, and I do not show my bare face to others, but to you alone, whom I have long since kissed. Tell me, you whom my soul has loved, where you feed, where you lie down at noon; lest I become as one veiled over the flocks of your companions. That I may not suffer this, that I may not become veiled, that I may not cover my mouth, and, coming at last to others, begin perhaps to love even those whom I do not know: therefore tell me where I may seek you, and find you at noon, lest perchance I become as one veiled over the flocks of your companions. After these words the bridegroom warns her, and says: Either you know yourself, that you are the bride of the king, and beautiful, and made beautiful by me — since I presented to myself a glorious Church, having neither spot nor wrinkle — or know that, if you do not know yourself and are not aware of your dignity, you will suffer the things that follow. And what are these? If you do not know yourself, O beautiful among women, go forth in the tracks of the flocks, and feed — not flocks of sheep, not of lambs, but your goats. For he will set the sheep on the right hand, and the goats on the left.
[§11] If you do not know yourself, O beautiful among women, go forth in the tracks of the flocks, and feed your goats in the tents of the shepherds. In the tracks, he says, of the shepherds you will become the last; not among the sheep, but among your goats, dwelling with whom you cannot be with me, that is, with the good shepherd. I have likened you to my cavalry among the chariots of Pharaoh. If you wish to understand, O bride, how you ought to know yourself, learn to whom I have compared you, and now you will see that you are such a one as ought not to be disfigured, when you have known your own beauty. What, then, is it? I have likened you to my cavalry among the chariots of Pharaoh. I know the bridegroom to be a horseman, the prophet saying: And his riding is salvation. You are likened, therefore, to my cavalry among the chariots of Pharaoh. As much as my cavalry — I who am the Lord, and drown in the waves Pharaoh, and his crested ones, and his riders, and his horses, and his chariots — as much, I say, as my cavalry differs from the horses of Pharaoh, so much are you, O bride, O soul of the Church, better than all the daughters, better than all souls that are not of the Church. If, then, you are a soul of the Church, you are better than all souls; if you are not better, you are not of the Church. I have likened you to my cavalry among the chariots of Pharaoh, my love. Then he describes the beauty of the bride with spiritual love.
[§12] Your cheeks are as those of a turtledove. He praises her face, and is kindled by the blush of her cheeks. For the beauty of women is said to be greatest in the cheeks. So let us too understand the beauty of the soul to be in its cheeks. But her lips and her tongue let us proclaim to be her understanding. Your neck is as a necklace. As an ornament which is wont to hang from the necks of virgins, and is called ὄρμισκος (a little necklace), so, even without this adornment, your neck itself is an ornament.
[§13] After these things the bridegroom is at his rest; he has lain down as a lion, he has slept as a lion's whelp, so that thereafter it may be asked: Who shall rouse him? While he sleeps in the meantime, the companions of the bridegroom, the Angels, appear to the bride, and console her with these words: We cannot make ornaments of gold for you; for we are not so rich as your bridegroom, who bestows on you a golden necklace. We will make a likeness of gold; for we do not have gold. And in this too there is cause for gladness, if we make likenesses of gold, if we make studs of silver. We will make you likenesses of gold, with studs of silver. But not for all time; only until your bridegroom rises from his couch. For when he has risen, he himself will make you gold, he himself will make silver, he himself will adorn your mind and understanding, and you will be truly rich in the bridegroom's house, a beautiful bride — to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.