Song of Songs 4

New International Version

He

4 How beautiful you are, my darling!
    Oh, how beautiful!
    Your eyes behind your veil^(A) are doves.^(B)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from the hills of Gilead.^(C)
²Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
    not one of them is alone.^(D)
³Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
    your mouth^(E) is lovely.^(F)
Your temples behind your veil
    are like the halves of a pomegranate.^(G)
⁴Your neck is like the tower^(H) of David,
    built with courses of stone^[a];
on it hang a thousand shields,^(I)
    all of them shields of warriors.
⁵Your breasts^(J) are like two fawns,
    like twin fawns of a gazelle^(K)
    that browse among the lilies.^(L)
⁶Until the day breaks
    and the shadows flee,^(M)
I will go to the mountain of myrrh^(N)
    and to the hill of incense.
⁷You are altogether beautiful,^(O) my darling;
    there is no flaw^(P) in you.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,^(Q)
    come with me from Lebanon.
Descend from the crest of Amana,
    from the top of Senir,^(R) the summit of Hermon,^(S)
from the lions’ dens
    and the mountain haunts of leopards.
⁹You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;^(T)
    you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
    with one jewel of your necklace.^(U)
¹⁰How delightful^(V) is your love^(W), my sister, my bride!
    How much more pleasing is your love than wine,^(X)
and the fragrance of your perfume^(Y)
    more than any spice!
¹¹Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
    milk and honey are under your tongue.^(Z)
The fragrance of your garments
    is like the fragrance of Lebanon.^(AA)
¹²You are a garden^(AB) locked up, my sister, my bride;^(AC)
    you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.^(AD)
¹³Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates^(AE)
    with choice fruits,
    with henna^(AF) and nard,
¹⁴    nard and saffron,
    calamus and cinnamon,^(AG)
    with every kind of incense tree,
    with myrrh^(AH) and aloes^(AI)
    and all the finest spices.^(AJ)
¹⁵You are^[b] a garden^(AK) fountain,^(AL)
    a well of flowing water
    streaming down from Lebanon.

She

¹⁶Awake, north wind,
    and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,^(AM)
    that its fragrance^(AN) may spread everywhere.
Let my beloved^(AO) come into his garden
    and taste its choice fruits.^(AP)

Footnotes

Song of Songs 4:4 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
Song of Songs 4:15 Or I am (spoken by She)

Psalm 144:9-15

New International Version

⁹I will sing a new song^(A) to you, my God;
on the ten-stringed lyre^(B) I will make music to you,
¹⁰to the One who gives victory to kings,^(C)
who delivers his servant David.^(D)

From the deadly sword^(E) ¹¹deliver me;
rescue me^(F) from the hands of foreigners^(G)
whose mouths are full of lies,^(H)
whose right hands are deceitful.^(I)

¹²Then our sons in their youth
    will be like well-nurtured plants,^(J)
and our daughters will be like pillars^(K)
    carved to adorn a palace.
¹³Our barns will be filled^(L)
    with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
    by tens of thousands in our fields;
¹⁴    our oxen^(M) will draw heavy loads.^[a]
There will be no breaching of walls,^(N)
    no going into captivity,
    no cry of distress in our streets.^(O)
¹⁵Blessed is the people^(P) of whom this is true;
    blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.

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Footnotes

Psalm 144:14 Or our chieftains will be firmly established

Revelation 12

New International Version

The Woman and the Dragon

12 A great sign^(A) appeared in heaven:^(B) a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars^(C) on her head. ²She was pregnant and cried out in pain^(D) as she was about to give birth. ³Then another sign appeared in heaven:^(E) an enormous red dragon^(F) with seven heads^(G) and ten horns^(H) and seven crowns^(I) on its heads. ⁴Its tail swept a third^(J) of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.^(K) The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child^(L) the moment he was born. ⁵She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”^[a]^(M) And her child was snatched up^(N) to God and to his throne. ⁶The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.^(O)

⁷Then war broke out in heaven. Michael^(P) and his angels fought against the dragon,^(Q) and the dragon and his angels^(R) fought back. ⁸But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent^(S) called the devil,^(T) or Satan,^(U) who leads the whole world astray.^(V) He was hurled to the earth,^(W) and his angels with him.

¹⁰Then I heard a loud voice in heaven^(X) say:

“Now have come the salvation^(Y) and the power
    and the kingdom of our God,
    and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,^(Z)
    who accuses them before our God day and night,
    has been hurled down.
¹¹They triumphed over^(AA) him
    by the blood of the Lamb^(AB)
    and by the word of their testimony;^(AC)
they did not love their lives so much
    as to shrink from death.^(AD)
¹²Therefore rejoice, you heavens^(AE)
    and you who dwell in them!
But woe^(AF) to the earth and the sea,^(AG)
    because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
    because he knows that his time is short.”

¹³When the dragon^(AH) saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.^(AI) ¹⁴The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle,^(AJ) so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time,^(AK) out of the serpent’s reach. ¹⁵Then from his mouth the serpent^(AL) spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war^(AM) against the rest of her offspring^(AN)—those who keep God’s commands^(AO) and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.^(AP)