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.
2 Your 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.
4 Your (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.
5 Your 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]
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I 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,
9 and your (P)mouth[b] like the best wine.
She
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.[c]
The Bride Gives Her Love
11 (S)Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;[d]
12 let 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.
2 I 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!
4 I (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.
6 Set 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.
7 Many 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
8 We 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?
9 If 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.
11 Solomon 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.
12 My 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
Romans 14
English Standard Version
Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another
14 As for (A)the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 (B)One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and (C)let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 (D)Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 (E)One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. (F)Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since (G)he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For (H)none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, (I)whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ (J)died and lived again, that he might be Lord both (K)of the dead and of the living.
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For (L)we will all stand before (M)the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written,
(N)“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess[b] to God.”
12 So then (O)each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Do Not Cause Another to Stumble
13 (P)Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide (Q)never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus (R)that nothing is unclean in itself, (S)but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, (T)you are no longer walking in love. (U)By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 (V)So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 (W)For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but (X)of righteousness and (Y)peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is (Z)acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us (AA)pursue what makes for peace and for (AB)mutual upbuilding.
20 (AC)Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. (AD)Everything is indeed clean, but (AE)it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 (AF)It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.[c] 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. (AG)Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.[d]
Footnotes
- Romans 14:4 Or lord
- Romans 14:11 Or shall give praise
- Romans 14:21 Some manuscripts add or be hindered or be weakened
- Romans 14:23 Some manuscripts insert here 16:25–27
Psalm 101:5-8
English Standard Version
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor (A)secretly
I will (B)destroy.
Whoever has a (C)haughty look and an (D)arrogant heart
I will not endure.
6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he who walks in (E)the way that is blameless
shall minister to me.
7 No one who (F)practices deceit
shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall (G)continue before my eyes.
8 (H)Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
(I)cutting off all (J)the evildoers
from (K)the city of the Lord.
Proverbs 21:9-10
English Standard Version
9 It is (A)better to live in a corner of the housetop
than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
10 The soul of the wicked desires evil;
his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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