Song of Songs 5:2-8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Another Dream
2 I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.
The sound of my beloved knocking!
“Open to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night.”(A)
3 I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on again?
I had bathed my feet;
how could I soil them?(B)
4 My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,
and my inmost being yearned for him.
5 I arose to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
upon the handles of the bolt.(C)
6 I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned away and was gone.
My soul failed me when he spoke.
I sought him but did not find him;
I called him, but he gave no answer.(D)
7 Making their rounds in the city
the sentinels found me;
they beat me; they wounded me;
they took away my mantle,
those sentinels of the walls.(E)
8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
tell him this:
I am faint with love.(F)
Revelation 12:7-17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Michael Defeats the Dragon
7 And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back,(A) 8 but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.(B)
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven proclaiming,
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Messiah,[a]
for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down,
who accuses them day and night before our God.(C)
11 But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.(D)
12 Rejoice then, you heavens
and those who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you
with great wrath
because he knows that his time is short!”(E)
The Dragon Fights Again on Earth
13 So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued[b] the woman who had delivered the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.(F) 15 Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood.(G) 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman and went off to wage war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.(H)
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Luke 11:53-12:12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
53 When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees became hostile to him and began to interrogate him about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.(A)
A Warning against Hypocrisy
12 Meanwhile, when the crowd had gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy.(B) 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known.(C) 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.
Exhortation to Fearless Confession
4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that can do nothing more.(D) 5 But I will show you whom to fear: fear the one who, after killing, has authority[a] to cast into hell.[b] Yes, I tell you, fear that one!(E) 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.(F)
8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,(G) 9 but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.(H) 11 When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how or what[c] you will answer or what you are to say,(I) 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.