Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
For the choir director; according to shoshannim; [a] a maskil by Korah’s descendants; a love song.
45 My heart is overflowing with good news.
I will direct my song to the king.
My tongue is a pen for a skillful writer.
2 You are the most handsome of Adam’s descendants.
Grace is poured on your lips.
That is why God has blessed you forever.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter in your kingdom is a scepter for justice.
7 You have loved what is right and hated what is wrong.
That is why God, your God, has anointed you,
rather than your companions, with the oil of joy.
8 All your robes are ⌞fragrant⌟ with myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
From ivory palaces the music of stringed instruments delights you.
9 The daughters of kings are among your noble ladies.
The queen takes her place at your right hand
and wears gold from Ophir.
1 The most beautiful song of Solomon.
The Young Woman Arrives in Solomon’s Palace
[ BRIDE ]
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.
Your expressions of love are better than wine,
3 better than the fragrance of cologne.
(Cologne should be named after you.)
No wonder the young women love you!
4 Take me with you. Let’s run away.
The king has brought me into his private rooms.
[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]
We will celebrate and rejoice with you.
We will praise your expressions of love more than wine.
How right it is that the young women love you!
[ BRIDE ]
5 Young women of Jerusalem, I am dark and lovely
like Kedar’s tents,
like Solomon’s curtains.
6 Stop staring at me because I am so dark.
The sun has tanned me.
My brothers were angry with me.
They made me the caretaker of the vineyards.
I have not even taken care of my own vineyard.
7 Please tell me, you whom I love, where do you graze your flock?
Where does your flock lie down at noon?
⌞Tell me,⌟ or I will be considered a prostitute
⌞wandering⌟ among the flocks of your companions.
[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]
8 If you do not know, most beautiful of women,
follow the tracks of the flocks,
and graze your young goats near the shepherds’ tents.
Solomon Searches for the Young Woman’s Love
[ GROOM ]
9 My true love, I compare you to a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.
10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of pearls.
[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]
11 We will make gold ornaments with silver beads for you.
[ BRIDE ]
12 While the king is at his table,
my perfume fills the air with its fragrance.
13 My beloved is a pouch of myrrh [a]
that lies at night between my breasts.
14 My beloved is a bouquet of henna flowers
in the vineyards of En Gedi.
[ GROOM ]
15 Look at you! You are beautiful, my true love!
Look at you! You are so beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves!
[ BRIDE ]
16 Look at you! You are handsome, my beloved, so pleasing to me!
The leaf-scattered ground will be our couch.
17 The cedars will be the walls of our house.
The cypress trees will be our rafters.
Greeting
1 From James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To God’s faithful people [a] who have been scattered.
Greetings.
When You Are Tested, Turn to God
2 My brothers and sisters, be very happy when you are tested in different ways. 3 You know that such testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 Endure until your testing is over. Then you will be mature and complete, and you won’t need anything.
5 If any of you needs wisdom to know what you should do, you should ask God, and he will give it to you. God is generous to everyone and doesn’t find fault with them. 6 When you ask for something, don’t have any doubts. A person who has doubts is like a wave that is blown by the wind and tossed by the sea. 7 A person who has doubts shouldn’t expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 A person who has doubts is thinking about two different things at the same time and can’t make up his mind about anything.
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.