Song of Solomon 7-8

English Standard Version

7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
    O ^(A)noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like ^(B)jewels,
    the work of ^(C)a master hand.
²Your navel is a rounded bowl
    that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
    encircled with ^(D)lilies.
³^(E)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle.
⁴Your ^(F)neck is like an ivory tower.
Your ^(G)eyes are pools in ^(H)Heshbon,
    by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of ^(I)Lebanon,
    which looks toward ^(J)Damascus.
⁵Your head crowns you like ^(K)Carmel,
    and your ^(L)flowing locks are like purple;
    a king is held captive in the tresses.

⁶^(M)How beautiful and ^(N)pleasant you are,
    O loved one, with all your delights!^[a]
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 ^(O)clusters of the vine,
    and the scent of your breath like apples,
⁹and your ^(P)mouth^[b] like the best wine.

She

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

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

The Bride Gives Her Love

¹¹^(S)Come, my beloved,
    let us go out into the fields
    and lodge in the villages;^[d]
¹²let us go out early to the vineyards
    ^(T)and see whether the vines have budded,
whether ^(U)the grape blossoms have opened
    and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
¹³^(V)The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
    and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
^(W)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 ^(X)bring you
    into the house of my mother—
    she who used to teach me.
I would give you ^(Y)spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranate.
³^(Z)His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
⁴I ^(AA)adjure you, O ^(AB)daughters of Jerusalem,
    ^(AC)that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

⁵^(AD)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 ^(AE)a seal upon your arm,
for ^(AF)love is strong as death,
    ^(AG)jealousy^[e] is fierce as the grave.^[f]
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    the very ^(AH)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 ^(AI)house,
    he^[g] would be utterly despised.

Final Advice

Others

⁸We have a little sister,
    and she ^(AJ)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 ^(AK)boards of cedar.

She

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

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

He

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

She

¹⁴^(AV)Make haste, my beloved,
and be ^(AW)like a gazelle
or a young stag
on ^(AX)the mountains of spices.

Footnotes

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

2 Corinthians 13

English Standard Version

Final Warnings

13 ^(A)This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established ^(B)by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ²^(C)I warned ^(D)those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that ^(E)if I come again I will not spare them— ³since you seek proof that Christ ^(F)is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but ^(G)is powerful among you. ⁴For ^(H)he was crucified in weakness, but ^(I)lives by the power of God. For ^(J)we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you ^(K)we will live with him by the power of God.

⁵Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. ^(L)Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that ^(M)Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! ⁶I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. ⁷But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. ⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹For we are glad when ^(N)we are weak and you are strong. Your ^(O)restoration is what we pray for. ¹⁰For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come ^(P)I may not have to be ^(Q)severe in my use of ^(R)the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

Final Greetings

¹¹Finally, brothers,^[a] rejoice. ^(S)Aim for restoration, comfort one another,^[b] ^(T)agree with one another, ^(U)live in peace; and the God of love and ^(V)peace will be with you. ¹²^(W)Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³^(X)All the saints greet you.