The Daily Audio Bible
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1 The Ultimate Song, by Shlomo:
[She]
2 Let him smother me with kisses from his mouth,
for your love is better than wine.
3 Your anointing oils have a wonderful fragrance;
your name is like anointing oil poured out.
This is why young women love you —
4 “Take me with you. We will run after you.”
The king has brought me into his rooms.
[Chorus]
We will be glad and rejoice for you.
We will praise your love more than wine.
How right it is for them to love you!
[She]
5 I am dark tan but beautiful,
you daughters of Yerushalayim,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Shlomo.
6 Don’t stare at me because I’m dark;
it’s the sun that tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me
and made me look after the vineyards.
But I haven’t cared for my own vineyard.
7 Tell me, my love, where you pasture your flock,
where you have them rest at noon;
for why should I veil myself [like a whore]
beside the flocks of your friends?
[Chorus]
8 If you do not know,
you most beautiful of women,
then follow the footprints of the flock
and let your kids graze by the shepherds’ tents.
[He]
9 My love, I compare you with my mare,
pulling one of Pharaoh’s chariots —
10 your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with its strings of beads;
11 we will make you ornaments
of gold, studded with silver.
[She]
12 As the king reclines at table,
my nard gives forth its perfume:
13 to me the man I love is a sachet of myrrh
lodged between my breasts;
14 to me the man I love is a spray of henna flowers
in the vineyards of ‘Ein-Gedi.
[He]
15 Look at you, my love! How beautiful you are!
Your eyes are doves —
[She]
16 — Look at you!
So handsome, so pleasing, my darling!
Our bed is the greenery;
17 cedars are the beams of our houses,
cypresses the rafters.
2 I am but a rose from the Sharon,
just a lily in the valleys.
[He]
2 Like a lily among thorns
is my darling among the other women.
[She]
3 Like an apple tree among the other trees in the forest
is my darling among the other men.
I love to sit in his shadow;
his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 He brings me to the banquet hall;
his banner over me is love.
5 Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples,
for I am sick with love.
6 [I wish] his left arm [were] under my head,
and his right arm around me.
7 I warn you, daughters of Yerushalayim,
by the gazelles and deer in the wilds,
not to awaken or stir up love
until it wants to arise!
8 The voice of the man I love! Here he comes,
bounding over the mountains, skipping over the hills!
9 My darling is like a gazelle or young stag.
There he is, standing outside our wall,
looking in through the windows,
peering in through the lattice.
10 My darling speaks; he is saying to me,
“Get up, my love! My beauty! Come away!
11 For you see that the winter has passed,
the rain is finished and gone,
12 the flowers are appearing in the countryside,
the time has come for [the birds] to sing,
and the cooing of doves can be heard in the land.
13 The fig trees are forming their unripe figs,
and the grapevines in bloom give out their perfume.
Get up, my love, my beauty!
Come away!”
[He]
14 My dove, hiding in holes in the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
let me see your face and hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
[She]
15 “Catch the foxes for us,
yes, the little foxes!
They are ruining the vineyards
when our vineyards are in bloom!”
16 My darling is mine, and I am his,
as he pastures his flock among the lilies.
17 Before the daytime breeze rises
and the shadows flee,
return, my love, like a stag or gazelle
on the hills of Beter.
3 Night after night on my bed
I looked for the man I love.
I looked for him, but I didn’t find him.
2 “I will get up now and roam the city,
through the streets and the open places,
I will look for the man I love.”
I looked for him, but I didn’t find him.
3 The guards roaming the city found me.
“Have you seen the man I love?”
4 Scarcely had I left them,
when I found the man I love.
I took hold of him
and would not let him go
until I had brought him to my mother’s house,
to the bedroom of the woman who conceived me.
5 I warn you, daughters of Yerushalayim,
by the gazelles and deer in the wilds,
not to awaken or stir up love
until it wants to arise!
6 Who is this, coming up from the desert
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
chosen from the merchant’s crushed spices?
7 It is Shlomo’s litter,
escorted by sixty valiant men
chosen from Isra’el’s finest;
8 all of them wield the sword
and are expert fighters;
each one has his sword ready at his side
to combat the terrors of night.
9 King Shlomo made himself a royal litter
of wood from the L’vanon.
10 He made its columns of silver,
its roof of gold, its seat of purple cloth;
its inside was lovingly inlaid
by the daughters of Yerushalayim.
11 Daughters of Tziyon, come out,
and gaze upon King Shlomo,
wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him
on his wedding day, his day of joy!
[He]
4 How beautiful you are, my love!
How beautiful you are!
Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gil‘ad.
2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep
that have just come up from being washed;
each of them is matched,
and none of them is missing.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like a pomegranate
split open behind your veil.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David,
built magnificently,
on which hang a thousand bucklers,
each one a brave warrior’s shield.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle grazing among lilies.
6 When the day’s cool breeze comes up
and the shadows lengthen,
I will get myself to the mountain of myrrh
to the hill of frankincense.
7 Everything about you is beautiful, my love;
you are without a flaw.
8 Come with me from the L’vanon, my bride,
come with me from the L’vanon.
Come down from the heights of Amanah,
from the heights of S’nir and Hermon,
down from the lions’ lairs
and the leopard-haunted hills.
9 My sister, my bride,
you have carried my heart away!
With just one glance, with one bead of your necklace
you have carried my heart away.
10 My sister, my bride,
how sweet is your love!
How much better your love than wine,
more fragrant your perfumes than any spice!
11 Your lips, my bride, drip honey;
honey and milk are under your tongue;
and the scent of your garments is like
the scent of the L’vanon.
12 My sister, my bride, is a garden locked up,
a pool covered over, a spring sealed shut.
13 You are an orchard that puts forth pomegranates
and other precious fruits, henna and nard —
14 nard, saffron and aromatic cane,
cinnamon and all kinds of frankincense trees,
myrrh, aloes, all the best spices.
15 You are a garden fountain,
a spring of running water,
flowing down from the L’vanon.
[She]
16 Awake, north wind! Come, south wind!
Blow on my garden to spread its fragrance.
Let my darling enter his garden
and eat its finest fruit.
16 Now I thank God for making Titus as devoted to you as we are; 17 for he not only responded to our urging, but, being so devoted, he is coming to you on his own initiative. 18 And with him we are sending the brother whose work for the Good News is praised in all the congregations; 19 not only that, he has also been appointed by the congregations to travel with us, so that the way we administer this charitable work will bring honor to the Lord and show our eagerness to help. 20 Our aim in this is to show that our conduct in dealing with these substantial sums is above reproach; 21 for we take pains to do what is right not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of other people.[a] 22 With these two we are sending another brother of ours, one whose diligence we have tested many times in many ways, but who is now all the more diligent because of his great confidence in you. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner who works with me on your behalf; and the other brothers with him are emissaries of the congregations and bring honor to the Messiah. 24 So the love you show these men will justify our pride in you to them, and through them to the congregations that sent them.
50 (0) A psalm of Asaf:
(1) The Mighty One, God, Adonai, is speaking,
summoning the world from east to west.
2 Out of Tziyon, the perfection of beauty,
God is shining forth.
3 Our God is coming and not staying silent.
With a fire devouring ahead of him
and a great storm raging around him,
4 he calls to the heavens above and to earth,
in order to judge his people.
5 “Gather to me my faithful,
those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for God himself is judge. (Selah)
7 “Listen, my people, I am speaking:
Isra’el, I am testifying against you,
I, God, your God.
8 I am not rebuking you for your sacrifices;
your burnt offerings are always before me.
9 I have no need for a bull from your farm
or for male goats from your pens;
10 for all forest creatures are mine already,
as are the animals on a thousand hills;
11 I know all the birds in the mountains;
whatever moves in the fields is mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world is mine, and everything in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer thanksgiving as your sacrifice to God,
pay your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me when you are in trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right do you have to proclaim my laws
or take my covenant on your lips,
17 when you so hate to receive instruction
and fling my words behind you?
18 When you see a thief, you join up with him,
you throw in your lot with adulterers,
19 you give your mouth free rein for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit;
20 you sit and speak against your kinsman,
you slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you do such things, should I stay silent?
You may have thought I was just like you;
but I will rebuke and indict you to your face.
22 Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to save you.
23 “Whoever offers thanksgiving
as his sacrifice honors me;
and to him who goes the right way
I will show the salvation of God.”
22 Don’t exploit the helpless, because they are helpless,
and don’t crush the poor in court,
23 for Adonai will plead their case for them
and withhold life from those who defraud them.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.