Song of Solomon 5-6

English Standard Version

He

5 I ^(A)came to my garden, my ^(B)sister, my bride,
    I gathered my ^(C)myrrh with my spice,
    I ate my ^(D)honeycomb with my honey,
    I ^(E)drank my wine with my milk.

Others

Eat, ^(F)friends, drink,
and be drunk with love!

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

She

²I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is ^(G)knocking.
“Open to me, my ^(H)sister, my ^(I)love,
    my ^(J)dove, my ^(K)perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
    my ^(L)locks with the drops of the night.”
³^(M)I had put off my garment;
    how could I put it on?
I had ^(N)bathed my feet;
    how could I soil them?
⁴My beloved put his hand to the latch,
    and my heart was thrilled within me.
⁵I arose to open to my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with ^(O)liquid myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
⁶I opened to my beloved,
    but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he ^(P)spoke.
^(Q)I sought him, but found him not;
    ^(R)I called him, but he gave no answer.
⁷^(S)The watchmen found me
    as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
    they took away my veil,
    those watchmen of the walls.
⁸I ^(T)adjure you, O ^(U)daughters of Jerusalem,
    if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
    ^(V)I am sick with love.

Others

⁹What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O ^(W)most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus ^(X)adjure us?

The Bride Praises Her Beloved

She

¹⁰My beloved is radiant and ^(Y)ruddy,
    ^(Z)distinguished among ten thousand.
¹¹His head is the finest gold;
    ^(AA)his locks are wavy,
    black as a raven.
¹²His ^(AB)eyes are like doves
    beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
    sitting beside a full pool.^[a]
¹³His ^(AC)cheeks are like ^(AD)beds of spices,
    mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are ^(AE)lilies,
    dripping ^(AF)liquid myrrh.
¹⁴His arms are rods of gold,
    set with ^(AG)jewels.
His body is polished ivory,^[b]
    bedecked with ^(AH)sapphires.^[c]
¹⁵His legs are alabaster columns,
    set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like ^(AI)Lebanon,
    choice as the cedars.
¹⁶His ^(AJ)mouth^[d] is most sweet,
    and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
    O ^(AK)daughters of Jerusalem.

Others

6 Where has your beloved gone,
O ^(AL)most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?

Together in the Garden of Love

She

²My beloved has gone down to his ^(AM)garden
    to ^(AN)the beds of spices,
to ^(AO)graze^[e] in the gardens
    and to gather ^(AP)lilies.
³^(AQ)I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
    he grazes among the lilies.

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

He

⁴You are beautiful as ^(AR)Tirzah, ^(AS)my love,
    ^(AT)lovely as ^(AU)Jerusalem,
    ^(AV)awesome as an army with banners.
⁵Turn away your eyes from me,
    for they overwhelm me—
^(AW)Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
⁶^(AX)Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
    that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
    not one among them has lost its young.
⁷^(AY)Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
⁸There are ^(AZ)sixty ^(BA)queens and eighty ^(BB)concubines,
    and ^(BC)virgins without number.
⁹My ^(BD)dove, my ^(BE)perfect one, is the only one,
    the only one of her mother,
    pure to ^(BF)her who bore her.
^(BG)The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    ^(BH)the queens and ^(BI)concubines also, and they praised her.

¹⁰^(BJ)“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
^(BK)awesome as an army with banners?”

She

¹¹I went down to the nut orchard
    to look at ^(BL)the blossoms of the valley,
^(BM)to see whether the vines had budded,
    whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
¹²^(BN)Before I was aware, my desire set me
    among ^(BO)the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.^[f]

Others

¹³^[g] Return, return, O ^(BP)Shulammite,
return, return, that we may look upon you.

He

Why should you look upon ^(BQ)the Shulammite,
as upon ^(BR)a dance before ^(BS)two armies?^[h]

Footnotes

Song of Solomon 5:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Song of Solomon 5:14 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
Song of Solomon 5:14 Hebrew lapis lazuli
Song of Solomon 5:16 Hebrew palate
Song of Solomon 6:2 Or to pasture his flock; also verse 3
Song of Solomon 6:12 Or chariots of Ammi-Nadib
Song of Solomon 6:13 Ch 7:1 in Hebrew
Song of Solomon 6:13 Or dance of Mahanaim

Romans 13

English Standard Version

Submission to the Authorities

13 Let every person ^(A)be subject to the governing authorities. For ^(B)there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ²Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you ^(C)will receive his approval, ⁴for ^(D)he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, ^(E)an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also ^(F)for the sake of conscience. ⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ⁷^(G)Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

⁸^(H)Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for ^(I)the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹For the commandments, ^(J)“You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ^(K)“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore ^(L)love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you ^(M)to wake from sleep. ^(N)For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ¹²^(O)The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us ^(P)cast off ^(Q)the works of darkness and ^(R)put on the armor of light. ¹³^(S)Let us walk properly as in the daytime, ^(T)not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, ^(U)not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴But ^(V)put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, ^(W)to gratify its desires.

Psalm 101:1-4

English Standard Version

I Will Walk with Integrity

A Psalm of David.

101 I will sing of ^(A)steadfast love and justice;
    to you, O Lord, I will make music.
²I will ^(B)ponder the way ^(C)that is blameless.
    Oh when will you ^(D)come to me?
I will ^(E)walk with ^(F)integrity of heart
    within my house;
³I will not set before my eyes
    anything ^(G)that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who ^(H)fall away;
    it shall not cling to me.
⁴^(I)A perverse heart shall be far from me;
    I will ^(J)know nothing of evil.

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Proverbs 21:6-8

English Standard Version

⁶^(A)The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
    is a ^(B)fleeting ^(C)vapor and a ^(D)snare of death.^[a]
⁷The violence of the wicked will ^(E)sweep them away,
    because they refuse to do what is just.
⁸The way of the guilty ^(F)is crooked,
    but the conduct of the pure is upright.