Song of Songs 5-6
Christian Standard Bible
Man
5 I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.
I gather[a] my myrrh with my spices.
I eat my honeycomb with my honey.
I drink my wine with my milk.
Narrator
Woman
2 I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My love was knocking!(B)
Man
Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my perfect one.
For my head is drenched with dew,
my hair with droplets of the night.
Woman
3 I have taken off my clothing.(C)
How can I put it back on?
I have washed my feet.
How can I get them dirty?
4 My love thrust his hand through the opening,
and my feelings were stirred for him.
5 I rose to open for my love.
My hands dripped with myrrh,(D)
my fingers with flowing myrrh
on the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my love,
but my love had turned and gone away.
My heart sank[c] because he had left.[d]
I sought him, but did not find him.(E)
I called him, but he did not answer.
7 The guards who go about the city found me.(F)
They beat and wounded me;
they took my cloak[e] from me—
the guardians of the walls.(G)
8 Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,(H)
if you find my love,
tell him that I am lovesick.(I)
Young Women
9 What makes the one you love better than another,
most beautiful of women?(J)
What makes him better than another,
that you would give us this charge?
Woman
11 His head is purest gold.
His hair is wavy[g](M)
and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves(N)
beside flowing streams,
washed in milk
and set like jewels.[h]
13 His cheeks(O) are like beds of spice,
mounds of[i] perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.(P)
14 His arms[j] are rods of gold
set[k] with beryl.(Q)
His body[l] is an ivory panel
covered with lapis lazuli.(R)
15 His legs are alabaster pillars
set on pedestals of pure gold.
His presence is like Lebanon,(S)
as majestic as the cedars.(T)
16 His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.(U)
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.
Young Women
6 Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way has he[m] turned?
We will seek him with you.
Woman
2 My love has gone down to his garden,(V)
to beds of spice,(W)
to feed in the gardens(X)
and gather lilies.(Y)
3 I am my love’s and my love is mine;(Z)
he feeds among the lilies.
Man
4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners.(AA)
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
for they captivate me.(AB)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead.(AC)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing.[n](AD)
7 Behind your veil,(AE)
your brow[o] is like a slice of pomegranate.
8 There are sixty queens
and eighty concubines(AF)
and young women[p] without number.
9 But my dove,(AG) my virtuous one, is unique;(AH)
she is the favorite of her mother,
perfect to the one who gave her birth.
Women see her and declare her fortunate;(AI)
queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:
10 Who is this(AJ) who shines like the dawn,
as beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners?(AK)
Woman
11 I came down to the walnut grove
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines were budding(AL)
and the pomegranates blooming.
12 I didn’t know what was happening to me.
I felt like I was
in a chariot with a nobleman.[q]
Young Women
13 Come back, come back, Shulammite![r]
Come back, come back, that we may look at you!
Man
Footnotes
- 5:1 Lit pluck
- 5:1 Or Drink your fill, lovers
- 5:6 Lit My soul went out
- 5:6 Or spoken
- 5:7 Or veil, or shawl
- 5:10 Or is radiant and ruddy
- 5:11 Or is like palm leaves; Hb obscure
- 5:12 Lit milk sitting in fullness
- 5:13 LXX, Vg read spice, yielding
- 5:14 Lit hands
- 5:14 Lit filled; Sg 5:2,12
- 5:14 Lit abdomen
- 6:1 Lit your love
- 6:6 Lit and no one bereaved among them
- 6:7 Or temple, or cheek, or lips
- 6:8 Or and virgins; Sg 1:3
- 6:12 Hb obscure
- 6:13 Or the perfect one, or the peaceable one
- 6:13 Or dance of Mahanaim
Romans 13
Christian Standard Bible
A Christian’s Duties to the State
13 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities,(A) since there is no authority except from God,(B) and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror(C) to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. 4 For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger(D) that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. 5 Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.(E) 6 And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks.[a] 7 Pay your obligations(F) to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes,(G) tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect,(H) and honor to those you owe honor.
Love, Our Primary Duty
8 Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.(I) 9 The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal;[b] do not covet;[c](J) and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.[d](K) 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.
Put On Christ
11 Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour(L) for you[e] to wake up from sleep,(M) because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.(N) 12 The night is nearly over, and the day is near;(O) so let us discard the deeds of darkness(P) and put on the armor of light.(Q) 13 Let us walk with decency,(R) as in the daytime: not in carousing and drunkenness;(S) not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,(T) and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.(U)
Psalm 101:1-4
Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 101
A Vow of Integrity
A psalm of David.
1 I will sing of faithful love and justice;
I will sing praise to you, Lord.(A)
2 I will pay attention to the way of integrity.
When will you come to me?
I will live with a heart of integrity in my house.(B)
3 I will not let anything worthless guide me.[a]
I hate the practice of transgression;
it will not cling to me.(C)
4 A devious heart will be far from me;
I will not be involved with[b] evil.(D)
Proverbs 21:6-8
Christian Standard Bible
7 The violence of the wicked sweeps them away
because they refuse to act justly.
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