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5 I have come to my garden, my sister bride,
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice,
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,
I have drunk my wine with my milk!
Eat, O friends! Drink and become drunk with love![a]
Maiden’s Dream: Seeking and Not Finding
2 I was asleep but[b] my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved knocking![c]
“Open to me, my sister, my beloved,
my dove, my perfect one!
For my head is full of dew,
my hair drenched from the moist night air.”[d]
3 I have taken off my tunic, must I put it on?[e]
I have bathed my feet, must I soil them?[f]
4 My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,
and my inmost yearned for him.
5 I myself arose to open to my beloved;
my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh
upon the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened myself to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone;[g]
my heart sank[h] when he turned away.[i]
I sought him, but I did not find him;
I called him, but he did not answer me.
7 The sentinels making rounds in the city found me;
they beat me, they wounded me;
they took my cloak[j] away from me—
those sentinels on the walls![k]
Adjuration Refrain
8 I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,[l]
if you find my beloved, what will you tell him?
Tell him that I am lovesick![m]
Maiden’s Praise of Her Beloved
9 How is your beloved better than another lover,[n]
O most beautiful among women?
How is your beloved better than another lover, [o]
that you adjure us thus?
10 My beloved is radiant and ruddy,[p]
distinguished among[q] ten thousand.
11 His head is gold, refined gold;
his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves beside springs[r] of water,
bathed in milk, set like mounted jewels.[s][t]
13 His cheeks are like beds of spice, a tower of fragrances;
his lips are lilies dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods[u][v] of gold engraved with[w] jewels;
his belly[x] is polished ivory covered with sapphires.[y]
15 His legs are columns of alabaster,[z] set on bases of gold;
his appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.[aa]
16 His mouth[ab] is sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved;
this is my friend, O young women of Jerusalem.[ac]
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned
that we may seek him with you?
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the garden bed of the spice,
to pasture his flock and to gather lilies in the garden.
Mutual Possession Refrain
3 I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me;[ad]
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
Solomon’s Praise of His Beloved
4 You are beautiful, my beloved, as Tirzah,
lovely as Jerusalem,
overwhelming as an army with banners.[ae]
5 Turn away your eyes from before me,
for they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of the goats
that moves down from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of the ewes
that have come up from the washing,
all of them bearing twins,
and there is none bereaved among them.
7 Your cheeks behind[af] your veil
are like halves of a pomegranate.
The Maiden’s Beauty Is without Peer
8 Sixty queens there are, eighty concubines,
and maidens beyond number.
9 My dove, she is the one;[ag][ah]
my perfect, she is the only one;[ai][aj]
she is the favorite of[ak][al] her mother who bore her.
Maidens see her and consider her fortunate;[am]
queens and concubines praise her:
10 “Who is this that looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,[an][ao]
overwhelming as an army with banners?”[ap]
The Journey to the Valley
11 I went down to the orchard of the walnut trees
to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines have sprouted,
whether the pomegranates have blossomed.
12 I did not know my heart[aq] set me
in a chariot of my princely people.[ar]
13 [as] Turn, turn,[at] O Shulammite![au]
Turn, turn[av] so that we may look upon you!
Why do you look upon the Shulammite
as at a dance of the two armies?
Solomon’s Praise of His Dancing Maiden
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O royal princess![aw]
The curves of your thighs[ax] are like jewels,[ay]
the work of the hands of a craftsman.
2 Your navel is a round wine-mixing bowl[az]
that does not lack mixed[ba] wine!
Your belly is a heap of wheat
encircled with lilies.
3 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory;
your eyes are pools in Heshbon at the gate of Beth Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
looking out over Damascus.[bb]
5 Your head crowns you like Carmel;[bc][bd]
the flowing locks of your head are like purple tapestry;[be]
a king is held captive in the tresses!
6 How beautiful you are and how pleasant,
O loved one in the delights!
7 Your stature[bf] is like the palm tree,
and your breasts are like clusters.
8 I say, “I will climb up the palm tree;
I will lay hold of its fruit clusters.”
Let your breasts be pleasing like clusters of the vine
and the scent of your breath like the apples.
9 Your palate is like the best wine that goes down for my beloved,
smoothly gliding over my lips and teeth.[bg]
Mutual Possession Refrain
Rendezvous in the Countryside
11 Come, my beloved, let us go out to the countryside;[bj]
let us spend the night[bk] in the villages.
12 Let us rise early to go[bl] to the vineyards;
let us see whether the vine has budded,[bm]
whether the grape blossom has opened,
and whether the pomegranates are in bloom;[bn]
there I will give my love to you.
13 The mandrakes give off their fragrance,
and over our doorway is every kind of delicious fruit;[bo]
both fresh and dried fruit I have stored up[bp] for you, O my beloved.
Maiden’s Fanciful Wish
8 How I wish that you were my little brother,[bq][br]
who nursed upon my mother’s breasts![bs]
If I met you outside,[bt] I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me![bu]
2 I would surely bring you[bv][bw] to the house of my mother,
who would surely teach me;[bx]
I would give you spiced wine to drink,[by]
the sweet wine[bz] of my pomegranates.[ca]
Double Refrain: Embrace and Adjuration
3 His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces[cb] me.
4 I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,[cc]
do not[cd] arouse or awaken love until it pleases![ce]
Up from the Wilderness and under the Apple Tree
5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you;
there your mother conceived you;[cf]
there she who was in labor gave birth to you.
The Nature of Genuine Romantic Love
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death;
passion is fierce as Sheol;
its flashes are flashes of fire;
it is a blazing flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.[cg]
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,[ch]
he would be utterly scorned.[ci]
Maiden’s Virtuous Chastity and Voluptuous Beauty
8 We have a little sister,[cj]
and she does not yet have any breasts.[ck]
What should we do for our sister
on the day when she is betrothed?[cl][cm]
9 If she is a wall,
we will adorn her with a turret of silver;[cn][co]
but if she is a door,
we will barricade her with boards of cedar.[cp]
10 I was a wall, and my breasts were like the towers,
so my betrothed viewed me with great delight.[cq]
Solomon’s Vineyard and the Maiden’s Gift
11 Solomon had a vineyard[cr] at Baal-hamon;
he entrusted his vineyard to the keepers;[cs]
people paid a thousand silver pieces for its fruit.[ct]
12 My own “vineyard” belongs to me;[cu]
the “thousand” are for you, O Solomon,
and “two hundred” for those who tend its fruit.[cv]
Closing Words of Mutual Love
God Loves a Cheerful Giver
9 For it is unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the ministry to the saints, 2 because I know your readiness to help, concerning which I keep on boasting to the Macedonians about you, that Achaia has been ready to help since last year, and your zeal has stirred up the majority of them. 3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you would not prove to be empty in this case, so that you may be prepared just as I was saying, 4 lest somehow if Macedonians should come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to speak of you[a]—would be humiliated in connection with this project. 5 Therefore I considered it necessary to urge the brothers that they should go on ahead to you and make arrangements in advance for your generous gift that was promised previously, so this would be prepared as a generous gift and not as grudgingly granted.
6 Now the point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one should give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly[b] or from compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to cause all grace to abound to you, so that in everything at all times, because you[c] have enough of everything, you may overflow in every good work. 9 Just as it is written,
10 Now the one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed, and will cause the harvest of your righteousness to grow, 11 being made rich in every way for all generosity, which is producing through us thanksgiving to God, 12 because the service of this ministry is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also is overflowing through many expressions of thanksgiving to God. 13 Through the proven character of this service they will glorify God because of the submission of your confession to the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your participation toward them and toward everyone, 14 and they are longing for you in their prayers for you, because of the surpassing grace of God to you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
A Prayer of Repentance and Plea for Mercy
For the music director. A psalm of David.
When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.[a]
51 Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loyal love.
According to your abundant mercies,
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and from my sin cleanse me.
3 For I myself know[b] my transgressions,[c]
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, only you, I have sinned
and have done this evil[d] in your eyes,
so that you are correct when you speak,
you are blameless when you judge.
5 Behold, in iniquity I was born,
and in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward parts,
and in the hidden parts you make me to know wisdom.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and all my iniquities blot out.
10 Create a clean heart for me, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.[e]
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and with a willing spirit sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
the God of my salvation;
then my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
16 For you do not delight in sacrifice or I would give it.
With a burnt offering you are not pleased.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good in your favor toward Zion.
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices,
burnt offering and whole burnt offering.
Then bulls will be offered on your altar.
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