Song of Solomon 6

English Standard Version

Others

6 Where has your beloved gone,
O ^(A)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 ^(B)garden
    to ^(C)the beds of spices,
to ^(D)graze^[a] in the gardens
    and to gather ^(E)lilies.
³^(F)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 ^(G)Tirzah, ^(H)my love,
    ^(I)lovely as ^(J)Jerusalem,
    ^(K)awesome as an army with banners.
⁵Turn away your eyes from me,
    for they overwhelm me—
^(L)Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
⁶^(M)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^(N)Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
⁸There are ^(O)sixty ^(P)queens and eighty ^(Q)concubines,
    and ^(R)virgins without number.
⁹My ^(S)dove, my ^(T)perfect one, is the only one,
    the only one of her mother,
    pure to ^(U)her who bore her.
^(V)The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    ^(W)the queens and ^(X)concubines also, and they praised her.

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

She

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

Others

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

He

Why should you look upon ^(AF)the Shulammite,
as upon ^(AG)a dance before ^(AH)two armies?^[d]

Footnotes

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

Psalm 97

English Standard Version

The Lord Reigns

97 ^(A)The Lord reigns, ^(B)let the earth rejoice;
    let the many ^(C)coastlands be glad!
²^(D)Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
    ^(E)righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³^(F)Fire goes before him
    and burns up his adversaries all around.
⁴His ^(G)lightnings light up the world;
    the earth sees and ^(H)trembles.
⁵The mountains ^(I)melt like ^(J)wax before the Lord,
    before ^(K)the Lord of all the earth.

⁶^(L)The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
    and all ^(M)the peoples see his glory.
⁷All worshipers of images are ^(N)put to shame,
    who make their boast in ^(O)worthless idols;
    ^(P)worship him, all you gods!

⁸Zion hears and ^(Q)is glad,
    and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
    because of your judgments, O Lord.
⁹For you, O Lord, are ^(R)most high over all the earth;
    you are exalted far above ^(S)all gods.

¹⁰O you who love the Lord, ^(T)hate evil!
    He ^(U)preserves the lives of his ^(V)saints;
    he ^(W)delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
¹¹^(X)Light ^(Y)is sown^[a] for the righteous,
    and joy for the upright in heart.
¹²^(Z)Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
    and ^(AA)give thanks to his holy name!

Footnotes

Psalm 97:11 Most Hebrew manuscripts; one Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome Light dawns

Esther 8

English Standard Version

Esther Saves the Jews

8 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, ^(A)the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told ^(B)what he was to her. ²^(C)And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman ^(D)the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. ⁴^(E)When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king. ⁵And she said, “If it please the king, ^(F)and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke ^(G)the letters devised by Haman ^(H)the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. ⁶For how can I bear ^(I)to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” ⁷Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, ^(J)I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows,^[a] because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. ⁸But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, ^(K)and seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring ^(L)cannot be revoked.”

⁹^(M)The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to ^(N)the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces ^(O)from India to Ethiopia, ^(P)127 provinces, ^(Q)to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. ¹⁰^(R)And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus ^(S)and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on ^(T)swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud, ¹¹saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city ^(U)to gather and defend their lives, ^(V)to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, ^(W)and to plunder their goods, ¹²^(X)on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. ¹³^(Y)A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. ¹⁴So the couriers, mounted on their ^(Z)swift horses that were used in the king's service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king's command. And the decree was issued in Susa the citadel.

¹⁵Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king ^(AA)in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown^[b] and ^(AB)a robe of fine linen and purple, ^(AC)and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. ¹⁶The Jews had ^(AD)light and gladness and joy and honor. ¹⁷And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and ^(AE)a holiday. ^(AF)And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, ^(AG)for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.