Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Royal Wedding Song[a]
45 Beautiful words fill my mind,
as I compose this song for the king.
Like the pen of a good writer
my tongue is ready with a poem.
2 You are the most handsome of men;
you are an eloquent speaker.
God has always blessed you.
6 (A)The kingdom that God has given you[a]
will last forever and ever.
You rule over your people with justice;
7 you love what is right and hate what is evil.
That is why God, your God, has chosen you
and has poured out more happiness on you
than on any other king.
8 The perfume of myrrh and aloes is on your clothes;
musicians entertain you in palaces decorated with ivory.
9 Among the women of your court are daughters of kings,
and at the right of your throne stands the queen,
wearing ornaments of finest gold.
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.
Poverty and Riches
9 Those Christians who are poor must be glad when God lifts them up, 10 (A)and the rich Christians must be glad when God brings them down. For the rich will pass away like the flower of a wild plant. 11 The sun rises with its blazing heat and burns the plant; its flower falls off, and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way the rich will be destroyed while they go about their business.
Testing and Tempting
12 Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him. 13 (B)If we are tempted by such trials, we must not say, “This temptation comes from God.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But we are tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires. 15 Then our evil desires conceive and give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Do not be deceived, my dear friends!
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.