The Daily Audio Bible
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1 (A)The most beautiful of songs, by Solomon.[a]
The First Song
The Woman
2 Your lips cover me with kisses;
your love is better than wine.
3 There is a fragrance about you;
the sound of your name recalls it.
No woman could keep from loving you.
4 Take me with you, and we'll run away;
be my king and take me to your room.
We will be happy together,
drink deep, and lose ourselves in love.
No wonder all women love you!
5 Women of Jerusalem, I am dark but[b] beautiful,
dark as the desert tents of Kedar,
but beautiful as the draperies in Solomon's palace.
6 Don't look down on me because of my color,
because the sun has tanned me.
My brothers were angry with me
and made me work in the vineyard.
I had no time to care for myself.
7 Tell me, my love,
Where will you lead your flock to graze?
Where will they rest from the noonday sun?
Why should I need to look for you
among the flocks of the other shepherds?[c]
The Man
8 Don't you know the place, loveliest of women?
Go and follow the flock;
find pasture for your goats
near the tents of the shepherds.
9 You, my love, excite men
as a mare excites the stallions of Pharaoh's chariots.
10 Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks
and falls along your neck like jewels.
11 But we will make for you a chain of gold
with ornaments of silver.
The Woman
12 My king was lying on his couch,
and my perfume filled the air with fragrance.
13 My lover has the scent of myrrh
as he lies upon my breasts.
14 My lover is like the wild flowers
that bloom in the vineyards at Engedi.
The Man
15 How beautiful you are, my love;
how your eyes shine with love!
The Woman
16 How handsome you are, my dearest;
how you delight me!
The green grass will be our bed;
17 the cedars will be the beams of our house,
and the cypress trees the ceiling.
2 I am only a wild flower in Sharon,
a lily in a mountain valley.
The Man
2 Like a lily among thorns
is my darling among women.
The Woman
3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my dearest compared to other men.
I love to sit in its shadow,
and its fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 He brought me to his banquet hall
and raised the banner of love over me.
5 Restore my strength with raisins
and refresh me with apples!
I am weak from passion.
6 His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand caresses me.
7 Promise me, women of Jerusalem;
swear by the swift deer and the gazelles
that you will not interrupt our love.
The Second Song
The Woman
8 I hear my lover's voice.
He comes running over the mountains,
racing across the hills to me.
9 My lover is like a gazelle,
like a young stag.
There he stands beside the wall.
He looks in through the window
and glances through the lattice.
10 My lover speaks to me.
The Man
Come then, my love;
my darling, come with me.
11 The winter is over; the rains have stopped;
12 in the countryside the flowers are in bloom.
This is the time for singing;
the song of doves is heard in the fields.
13 Figs are beginning to ripen;
the air is fragrant with blossoming vines.
Come then, my love;
my darling, come with me.
14 You are like a dove that hides
in the crevice of a rock.
Let me see your lovely face
and hear your enchanting voice.
15 Catch the foxes, the little foxes,
before they ruin our vineyard in bloom.
The Woman
16 My lover is mine, and I am his.
He feeds his flock among the lilies
17 until the morning breezes blow
and the darkness disappears.
Return, my darling, like a gazelle,
like a stag on the mountains of Bether.[d]
3 Asleep on my bed, night after night
I dreamed of the one I love;
I was looking for him, but couldn't find him.
2 I went wandering through the city,
through its streets and alleys.
I looked for the one I love.
I looked, but couldn't find him.
3 The sentries patrolling the city saw me.
I asked them, “Have you found my lover?”
4 As soon as I left them, I found him.
I held him and wouldn't let him go
until I took him to my mother's house,
to the room where I was born.
5 Promise me, women of Jerusalem;
swear by the swift deer and the gazelles
that you will not interrupt our love.
The Third Song
The Woman
6 What is this coming from the desert like a column of smoke,
fragrant with incense and myrrh,
the incense sold by the traders?
7 Solomon is coming, carried on his throne;
sixty soldiers form the bodyguard,
the finest soldiers in Israel.
8 All of them are skillful with the sword;
they are battle-hardened veterans.
Each of them is armed with a sword,
on guard against a night attack.
9 King Solomon is carried on a throne
made of the finest wood.
10 Its posts are covered with silver;
over it is cloth embroidered with gold.
Its cushions are covered with purple cloth,
lovingly woven by the women of Jerusalem.
11 Women of Zion, come and see King Solomon.
He is wearing the crown that his mother placed on his head
on his wedding day,
on the day of his gladness and joy.
4 How beautiful you are, my love!
How your eyes shine with love behind your veil.
Your hair dances like a flock of goats
bounding down the hills of Gilead.
2 Your teeth are as white as sheep
that have just been shorn and washed.
Not one of them is missing;
they are all perfectly matched.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
how lovely they are when you speak.
Your cheeks glow behind your veil.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David,
round and smooth,[e]
with a necklace like a thousand shields hung around it.
5 Your breasts are like gazelles,
twin deer feeding among lilies.
6 I will stay on the hill of myrrh,
the hill of incense,
until the morning breezes blow
and the darkness disappears.
7 How beautiful you are, my love;
how perfect you are!
8 Come with me from the Lebanon Mountains, my bride;
come with me from Lebanon.
Come down from the top of Mount Amana,
from Mount Senir and Mount Hermon,
where the lions and leopards live.
9 The look in your eyes, my sweetheart and bride,
and the necklace you are wearing
have stolen my heart.
10 Your love delights me,
my sweetheart and bride.
Your love is better than wine;
your perfume more fragrant than any spice.
11 The taste of honey is on your lips, my darling;
your tongue is milk and honey for me.
Your clothing has all the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 My sweetheart, my bride, is a secret garden,
a walled garden, a private spring;
13 there the plants flourish.
They grow like an orchard of pomegranate trees
and bear the finest fruits.
There is no lack of henna and nard,
14 of saffron, calamus, and cinnamon,
or incense of every kind.
Myrrh and aloes grow there
with all the most fragrant perfumes.
15 Fountains water the garden,
streams of flowing water,
brooks gushing down from the Lebanon Mountains.
The Woman
16 Wake up, North Wind.
South Wind, blow on my garden;
fill the air with fragrance.
Let my lover come to his garden
and eat the best of its fruits.
Titus and His Companions
16 How we thank God for making Titus as eager as we are to help you! 17 Not only did he welcome our request; he was so eager to help that of his own free will he decided to go to you. 18 With him we are sending the brother who is highly respected in all the churches for his work in preaching the gospel. 19 And besides that, he has been chosen and appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this service of love for the sake of the Lord's glory and in order to show that we want to help.
20 We are being careful not to stir up any complaints about the way we handle this generous gift. 21 (A)Our purpose is to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of others.
22 So we are sending our brother with them; we have tested him many times and found him always very eager to help. And now that he has so much confidence in you, he is all the more eager to help. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner and works with me to help you; as for the other brothers who are going with him, they represent the churches and bring glory to Christ. 24 Show your love to them, so that all the churches will be sure of it and know that we are right in boasting about you.
True Worship[a]
50 The Almighty God, the Lord, speaks;
he calls to the whole earth from east to west.
2 God shines from Zion,
the city perfect in its beauty.
3 Our God is coming, but not in silence;
a raging fire is in front of him,
a furious storm around him.
4 He calls heaven and earth as witnesses
to see him judge his people.
5 He says, “Gather my faithful people to me,
those who made a covenant with me by offering a sacrifice.”
6 The heavens proclaim that God is righteous,
that he himself is judge.
7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel.
I am God, your God.
8 I do not reprimand you because of your sacrifices
and the burnt offerings you always bring me.
9 And yet I do not need bulls from your farms
or goats from your flocks;
10 all the animals in the forest are mine
and the cattle on thousands of hills.
11 All the wild birds are mine
and all living things in the fields.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not ask you for food,
for the world and everything in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Let the giving of thanks be your sacrifice to God,[b]
and give the Almighty all that you promised.
15 Call to me when trouble comes;
I will save you,
and you will praise me.”
16 But God says to the wicked,
“Why should you recite my commandments?
Why should you talk about my covenant?
17 You refuse to let me correct you;
you reject my commands.
18 You become the friend of every thief you see,
and you associate with adulterers.
19 “You are always ready to speak evil;
you never hesitate to tell lies.
20 You are ready to accuse your own relatives
and to find fault with them.
21 You have done all this, and I have said nothing,
so you thought that I am like you.
But now I reprimand you
and make the matter plain to you.
22 “Listen to this, you that ignore me,
or I will destroy you,
and there will be no one to save you.
23 Giving thanks is the sacrifice that honors me,
and I will surely save all who obey me.”
-1-
22 Don't take advantage of the poor just because you can; don't take advantage of those who stand helpless in court. 23 The Lord will argue their case for them and threaten the life of anyone who threatens theirs.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.