Song of Solomon 5 - Isaiah 1

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]

7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
    O ^(BT)noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like ^(BU)jewels,
    the work of ^(BV)a master hand.
²Your navel is a rounded bowl
    that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
    encircled with ^(BW)lilies.
³^(BX)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle.
⁴Your ^(BY)neck is like an ivory tower.
Your ^(BZ)eyes are pools in ^(CA)Heshbon,
    by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of ^(CB)Lebanon,
    which looks toward ^(CC)Damascus.
⁵Your head crowns you like ^(CD)Carmel,
    and your ^(CE)flowing locks are like purple;
    a king is held captive in the tresses.

⁶^(CF)How beautiful and ^(CG)pleasant you are,
    O loved one, with all your delights!^[i]
⁷Your stature is like a palm tree,
    and your breasts are like its clusters.
⁸I say I will climb the palm tree
    and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like ^(CH)clusters of the vine,
    and the scent of your breath like apples,
⁹and your ^(CI)mouth^[j] like the best wine.

She

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.^[k]

¹⁰^(CJ)I am my beloved's,
^(CK)and his desire is for me.

The Bride Gives Her Love

¹¹^(CL)Come, my beloved,
    let us go out into the fields
    and lodge in the villages;^[l]
¹²let us go out early to the vineyards
    ^(CM)and see whether the vines have budded,
whether ^(CN)the grape blossoms have opened
    and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
¹³^(CO)The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
    and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
^(CP)new as well as old,
    which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

Longing for Her Beloved

8 Oh that you were like a brother to me
    who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
    and none would despise me.
²I would lead you and ^(CQ)bring you
    into the house of my mother—
    she who used to teach me.
I would give you ^(CR)spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranate.
³^(CS)His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
⁴I ^(CT)adjure you, O ^(CU)daughters of Jerusalem,
    ^(CV)that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

⁵^(CW)Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.

⁶Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as ^(CX)a seal upon your arm,
for ^(CY)love is strong as death,
    ^(CZ)jealousy^[m] is fierce as the grave.^[n]
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    the very ^(DA)flame of the Lord.
⁷Many waters cannot quench love,
    neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
    all the wealth of his ^(DB)house,
    he^[o] would be utterly despised.

Final Advice

Others

⁸We have a little sister,
    and she ^(DC)has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
    on the day when she is spoken for?
⁹If she is a wall,
    we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
    we will enclose her with ^(DD)boards of cedar.

She

¹⁰^(DE)I was a wall,
and my ^(DF)breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds^[p] peace.

¹¹Solomon had ^(DG)a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
    he ^(DH)let out the vineyard to ^(DI)keepers;
    each one was to bring for its fruit ^(DJ)a thousand pieces of silver.
¹²My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
    you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
    and ^(DK)the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

He

¹³^(DL)O you who dwell in the gardens,
with ^(DM)companions listening for your voice;
^(DN)let me hear it.

She

¹⁴^(DO)Make haste, my beloved,
and be ^(DP)like a gazelle
or a young stag
on ^(DQ)the mountains of spices.

1 The ^(DR)vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem ^(DS)in the days of ^(DT)Uzziah, ^(DU)Jotham, ^(DV)Ahaz, and ^(DW)Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Wickedness of Judah

²^(DX)Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O ^(DY)earth;
    for the Lord has spoken:
“Children^[q] ^(DZ)have I reared and brought up,
    but they have rebelled against me.
³The ox ^(EA)knows its owner,
    and the donkey its master's crib,
but Israel does ^(EB)not know,
    my people do not understand.”

⁴Ah, sinful nation,
    a people laden with iniquity,
^(EC)offspring of evildoers,
    children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
    they have ^(ED)despised ^(EE)the Holy One of Israel,
    they are utterly ^(EF)estranged.

⁵Why will you still be ^(EG)struck down?
    Why will you ^(EH)continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
    and the whole heart faint.
⁶^(EI)From the sole of the foot even to the head,
    there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
    and raw wounds;
they are ^(EJ)not pressed out or bound up
    or softened with oil.

⁷^(EK)Your country lies desolate;
    your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
    foreigners devour your land;
    it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
⁸And ^(EL)the daughter of Zion is left
    like a ^(EM)booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
    like a besieged city.

⁹^(EN)If the Lord of hosts
had not left us ^(EO)a few survivors,
we should have been like ^(EP)Sodom,
and become like ^(EQ)Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of ^(ER)^(ES)Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching^[r] of our God,
    you people of ^(ET)Gomorrah!
¹¹^(EU)“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
    says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
    and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
    or of lambs, or of goats.

¹²“When you come to ^(EV)appear before me,
    who has required of you
    this trampling of my courts?
¹³Bring no more vain offerings;
    incense is an abomination to me.
^(EW)New moon and Sabbath and the ^(EX)calling of convocations—
    I cannot endure ^(EY)iniquity and ^(EZ)solemn assembly.
¹⁴Your ^(FA)new moons and your appointed feasts
    my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵When you ^(FB)spread out your hands,
    I will hide my eyes from you;
^(FC)even though you make many prayers,
    I will not listen;
    ^(FD)your hands are full of blood.
¹⁶^(FE)Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
^(FF)cease to do evil,
¹⁷    learn to do good;
^(FG)seek justice,
    correct oppression;
^(FH)bring justice to the fatherless,
    plead the widow's cause.

¹⁸“Come now, ^(FI)let us reason^[s] together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as ^(FJ)white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
    they shall become like wool.
¹⁹^(FK)If you are willing and obedient,
    you shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰but if you refuse and rebel,
    you shall be eaten by the sword;
    ^(FL)for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Unfaithful City

²¹How the faithful city
    ^(FM)has become a whore,^[t]
    ^(FN)she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
    but now murderers.
²²^(FO)Your silver has become dross,
    your best wine mixed with water.
²³Your princes are rebels
    and companions of thieves.
Everyone ^(FP)loves a bribe
    and runs after gifts.
^(FQ)They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
    and the widow's cause does not come to them.

²⁴Therefore the ^(FR)Lord declares,
    the Lord of hosts,
    the ^(FS)Mighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
    ^(FT)and avenge myself on my foes.
²⁵^(FU)I will turn my hand against you
    and will smelt away your ^(FV)dross as with lye
    and remove all your alloy.
²⁶And I will restore your judges ^(FW)as at the first,
    and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward ^(FX)you shall be called the city of righteousness,
    the faithful city.”

²⁷^(FY)Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
    and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
²⁸^(FZ)But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
    and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
²⁹^(GA)For they^[u] shall be ashamed of ^(GB)the oaks
    that you desired;
and you shall blush for ^(GC)the gardens
    that you have chosen.
³⁰For you shall be ^(GD)like an oak
    whose leaf withers,
    and like a garden without water.
³¹And the strong shall become ^(GE)tinder,
    and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
    with ^(GF)none to quench them.

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
Song of Solomon 7:6 Or among delights
Song of Solomon 7:9 Hebrew palate
Song of Solomon 7:9 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew causing the lips of sleepers to speak, or gliding over the lips of those who sleep
Song of Solomon 7:11 Or among the henna plants
Song of Solomon 8:6 Or ardor
Song of Solomon 8:6 Hebrew as Sheol
Song of Solomon 8:7 Or it
Song of Solomon 8:10 Or brings out
Isaiah 1:2 Or Sons; also verse 4
Isaiah 1:10 Or law
Isaiah 1:18 Or dispute
Isaiah 1:21 Or become unchaste
Isaiah 1:29 Some Hebrew manuscripts you

1 John 4

English Standard Version

Test the Spirits

4 Beloved, ^(A)do not believe every spirit, but ^(B)test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for ^(C)many ^(D)false prophets ^(E)have gone out into the world. ²By this you know the Spirit of God: ^(F)every spirit that confesses that ^(G)Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³and every spirit ^(H)that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and ^(I)now is in the world already. ⁴Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for ^(J)he who is in you is greater than ^(K)he who is in the world. ⁵^(L)They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and ^(M)the world listens to them. ⁶We are from God. ^(N)Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know ^(O)the Spirit of truth and ^(P)the spirit of error.

God Is Love

⁷Beloved, ^(Q)let us love one another, for love is from God, and ^(R)whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸^(S)Anyone who does not love does not know God, because ^(T)God is love. ⁹In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that ^(U)God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, ^(V)not that we have loved God ^(W)but that he loved us and sent his Son to be ^(X)the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²^(Y)No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and ^(Z)his love is perfected in us.

¹³^(AA)By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And ^(AB)we have seen and testify that ^(AC)the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of ^(AD)the world. ¹⁵^(AE)Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶So ^(AF)we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. ^(AG)God is love, and ^(AH)whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷By this ^(AI)is love perfected with us, so that ^(AJ)we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because ^(AK)as he is so also are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but ^(AL)perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not ^(AM)been perfected in love. ¹⁹^(AN)We love because he first loved us. ²⁰^(AO)If anyone says, “I love God,” and ^(AP)hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot^[a] love God ^(AQ)whom he has not seen. ²¹And ^(AR)this commandment we have from him: ^(AS)whoever loves God must also love his brother.