18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
15 Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
Cry aloud and spare not,1683 verse anthem composed by John Blow (1649-1708)
Blow: Cry Aloud and Spare Not (Verse Anthem, 1683)
Performed by The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge · Academy of St. Martin in the Fields · Sir David Willcocks
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), coloured aquatint by Valentin Daniel Preisler after a lost painting by Louis Michael Schneider (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Black Madonna of Tindari, sporting the incsription NIGRA SUM SED FORMOSA. Tindari Madonna Bruna: restoration work in the 1990s found a medieval statue with later additions. Nigra sum sed formosa , meaning “I am black but beautiful” (from the Song of Songs, 1:5), is inscribed round a newer base. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
Nigra sum (1943), composed by Pablo Casals (1876-1973)
