Song of Solomon 5-8

Complete Jewish Bible

[He]

5 My sister, my bride, I have entered my garden;
I am gathering my myrrh and my spices;
I am eating my honeycomb along with my honey;
I am drinking my wine as well as my milk.

[Chorus]

Eat, friends, and drink,
until you are drunk with love!

[She]

²I am asleep, but my heart is awake.
Listen! I hear my darling knocking!

[He]

Open for me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my flawless one!
For my head is wet with dew,
my hair with the moisture of the night.

[She]

³I’ve removed my coat; must I put it back on?
I’ve washed my feet; must I dirty them again?

⁴The man I love put his hand through the hole by the door-latch,
and my heart began pounding at the thought of him.
⁵I got up to open for the man I love.
My hands were dripping with myrrh —
pure myrrh ran off my fingers
onto the handle of the bolt.
⁶I opened for my darling,
but my darling had turned and gone.
My heart had failed me when he spoke —
I sought him, but I couldn’t find him;
I called him, but he didn’t answer.
⁷The watchmen roaming the city found me;
they beat me, they wounded me;
they took away my cloak,
those guardians of the walls!

⁸I charge you, daughters of Yerushalayim,
that if you find the man I love,
what are you to tell him?
That I am sick with love.

[Chorus]

⁹How does the man you love differ from any other,
you most beautiful of women?
How does the man you love differ from any other,
that you should give us this charge?

[She]

¹⁰The man I love is radiant and ruddy;
he stands out among ten thousand.
¹¹His head is like the finest gold;
his locks are wavy and black as a raven.
¹²His eyes are like doves by running streams,
bathed in milk and set just right.
¹³His cheeks are like beds of spices,
like banks of fragrant herbs.
His lips are like lilies
dripping with sweet myrrh.
¹⁴His arms are rods of gold set with beryl,
his body polished ivory adorned with sapphires.
¹⁵His legs are like pillars of marble
set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like the L’vanon,
as imposing as the cedars.
¹⁶His words are sweetness itself;
he is altogether desirable.
This is my darling, and this is my friend,
daughters of Yerushalayim.

[Chorus]

6 Where has your darling gone,
you most beautiful of women?
Which way did your darling turn,
so that we can help you find him?

[She]

²My darling went down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
³I belong to the man I love, and he belongs to me;
he pastures his flock among the lilies.

[He]

⁴You are as beautiful as Tirtzah, my love,
as lovely as Yerushalayim,
but formidable as an army
marching under banners.
⁵Turn your eyes away from me,
because they overwhelm me!

Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Gil‘ad.
⁶Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
that have just come up from being washed;
each of them is matched,
and none of them is missing.
⁷Your cheeks are like a pomegranate
split open behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
as well as young women beyond number;
⁹but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
her mother’s only child,
the darling of the one who bore her.
The daughters see her and call her happy;
the queens and concubines praise her.
¹⁰“Who is this, shining forth like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun” —
but formidable as an army
marching under banners?

[She]

¹¹I had gone down to the nut orchard
to see the fresh green plants in the valley,
to see if the vine had budded,
or if the pomegranate trees were in bloom.
¹²Before I knew it, I found myself
in a chariot, and with me was a prince.

[Chorus]

7 ^(6:13)Come back, come back, girl from Shulam!
Come back, come back to where we can see you!
Why are you looking at the girl from Shulam
as if she were dancing for two army camps?

[He]

²⁽¹⁾How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
you daughter of princes!
The curves of your thighs are like a necklace
made by a skilled craftsman.
³⁽²⁾Your navel is like a round goblet
that never lacks spiced wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat
encircled by lilies.
⁴⁽³⁾Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
⁵⁽⁴⁾Your neck is like a tower of ivory,
your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
by the gate of Bat-Rabbim,
your nose like a tower in the L’vanon
overlooking Dammesek.
⁶⁽⁵⁾You hold your head like the Karmel,
and the hair on your head is like purple cloth —
the king is held captive in its tresses.

⁷⁽⁶⁾How beautiful you are, my love,
how charming, how delightful!
⁸⁽⁷⁾Your appearance is stately as a palm tree,
with its fruit clusters your breasts.
⁹⁽⁸⁾I said, “I will climb up into the palm tree,
I will take hold of its branches.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
your breath as fragrant as apples,
¹⁰⁽⁹⁾and your mouth like the finest wine.

[She]

May the wine go straight to the man I love
and gently move the lips of those who are asleep.
¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾I belong to my darling,
and his desire is for me.

¹²⁽¹¹⁾Come, my darling, let’s go out to the country
and spend the nights in the villages.
¹³⁽¹²⁾We’ll get up early and go to the vineyards
to see if the vines have budded,
to see if their flowers have opened,
or if the pomegranate trees are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
¹⁴⁽¹³⁾The mandrakes are sending out their fragrance,
all kinds of choice fruits are at our doors,
fruits both new and old, my darling,
which I have kept in store for you.

8 I wish you were my brother,
who nursed at my mother’s breast;
then, if I met you outdoors, I could kiss you,
and no one would look down on me.
²I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house,
and she would instruct me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
fresh juice from my pomegranates.

³His left arm would be under my head
and his right arm around me.

⁴I warn you, daughters of Yerushalayim,
not to awaken or stir up love
until it wants to arise!

[Chorus]

⁵Who is this, coming up from the desert,
leaning on her darling?

[He]

I awakened you under the apple tree.
It was there that your mother conceived you;
there she who bore you conceived you.

[She]

⁶Set me like a seal on your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
passion as cruel as Sh’ol;
its flashes are flashes of fire,
[as fierce as the] flame of Yah.
⁷No amount of water can quench love,
torrents cannot drown it.
If someone gave all the wealth in his house for love,
he would gain only utter contempt.

[Chorus]

⁸We have a little sister;
her breasts are still unformed.
What are we to do with our sister
when she is asked for in marriage?
⁹If she is a wall,
we will build on her a palace of silver;
and if she is a door,
we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

[She]

¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers;
so in his view I am like one who brings peace.

¹¹Shlomo had a vineyard at Ba‘al-Hamon,
and he gave the vineyard to caretakers;
each of them would pay for its fruit
a thousand pieces of silver.
¹²My vineyard is mine; I tend it, myself.
You can have the thousand, Shlomo,
and the fruit-caretakers, two hundred!

[He]

¹³You who live in the garden,
friends are listening for your voice.
Let me hear it! —

[She]

¹⁴ — Flee, my darling!
Be like a gazelle or young stag
on the mountains of spices!

Philippians 1

Complete Jewish Bible

1 From: Sha’ul and Timothy, slaves of the Messiah Yeshua

To: All God’s people united with the Messiah Yeshua and living in Philippi, along with the congregation leaders and shammashim:

²Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

³I thank my God every time I think of you. ⁴Whenever I pray for all of you I always pray with joy, ⁵because you have shared in proclaiming the Good News from the very first day until now. ⁶And I am sure of this: that the One who began a good work among you will keep it growing until it is completed on the Day of the Messiah Yeshua. ⁷It is right for me to think this way about you all, because I have you on my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and establishing the Good News, you are all sharing with me in this privileged work. ⁸God can testify how I long for all of you with the deep affection of the Messiah Yeshua.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may more and more overflow in fullness of knowledge and depth of discernment, ¹⁰so that you will be able to determine what is best and thus be pure and without blame for the Day of the Messiah, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Yeshua the Messiah — to the glory and praise of God.

¹²Now, brothers, I want you to know that what has happened to me has helped in advancing the Good News. ¹³It has become clear to the whole palace and to everyone else that it is because of the Messiah that I am in chains. ¹⁴Also, my being in prison has given most of the brothers in the Lord confidence, so that they have become much more bold in speaking the word of God fearlessly. ¹⁵True, some are proclaiming the Messiah out of jealousy and rivalry, but others are doing it in goodwill. ¹⁶The latter act from love, aware that I am put where I am for defending the Good News; ¹⁷while the former announce the Messiah out of selfish ambition, with impure motives, supposing they can stir up trouble for me in prison. ¹⁸But so what? All that matters is that in every way, whether honestly or in pretense, the Messiah is being proclaimed; and in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹for I know that this will work out for my deliverance,^[a] because of your prayers and the support I get from the Spirit of Yeshua the Messiah. ²⁰It all accords with my earnest expectation and hope that I will have nothing to be ashamed of; but rather, now, as always, the Messiah will be honored by my body, whether it is alive or dead. ²¹For to me, life is the Messiah, and death is gain. ²²But if by living on in the body I can do fruitful work, then I don’t know which to choose. ²³I am caught in a dilemma: my desire is to go off and be with the Messiah — that is better by far — ²⁴but because of you, the greater need is to stay on in the body. ²⁵Yes, I am convinced of this; so I know I will stay on with you in order to help you progress in the faith and have joy in it. ²⁶Then, through my being with you again, you will have even greater reason for boasting about the Messiah Yeshua.

²⁷Only conduct your lives in a way worthy of the Good News of the Messiah; so that whether I come and see you or I hear about you from a distance, you stand firm, united in spirit, fighting with one accord for the faith of the Good News, ²⁸not frightened by anything the opposition does. This will be for them an indication that they are headed for destruction and you for deliverance. And this is from God; ²⁹because for the Messiah’s sake it has been granted to you not only to trust in him but also to suffer on his behalf, ³⁰to fight the same battles you once saw me fight and now hear that I am still fighting.