SONG OF SOLOMON 7

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Admiration by the Bridegroom7:1 “How beautiful are your feet in sandals,

O prince’s daughter!

The curves of your hips are like jewels,

The work of the hands of an artist.

2 “Your navel is like a round goblet

Which never lacks mixed wine;

Your belly is like a heap of wheat

Fenced about 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 like the pools in Heshbon

By the gate of Bath-rabbim;

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,

Which faces toward Damascus.

5 “Your head crowns you like Carmel,

And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads;

The king is captivated by your tresses.

6 “How beautiful and how delightful you are,

My love, with all your charms!

7 “Your stature is like a palm tree,

And your breasts are like its clusters.

8 “I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree,

I will take hold of its fruit stalks.’

Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,

And the fragrance of your breath like apples,

9 And your mouth like the best wine!”

“It goes

down smoothly for my beloved,

Flowing gently through the lips of those who fall asleep.

The Union of Love10 “I am my beloved’s,

And his desire is for me.

11 “Come, my beloved, let us go out into the country,

Let us spend the night in the villages.

12 “Let us rise early and go to the vineyards;

Let us see whether the vine has budded

And its blossoms have opened,

And whether the pomegranates have bloomed.

There I will give you my love.

13 “The mandrakes have given forth fragrance;

And over our doors are all choice fruits,

Both new and old,

Which I have saved up for you, my beloved.

SONG OF SOLOMON 8

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The Lovers Speak8:1 “Oh that you were like a brother to me

Who nursed at my mother’s breasts.

If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you;

No one would despise me, either.

2 “I would lead you and bring you

Into the house of my mother, who used to instruct me;

I would give you spiced wine to drink from the juice of my pomegranates.

3 “Let his left hand be under my head

And his right hand embrace me.”

4 “I want you to swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,

Do not arouse or awaken my love

Until she pleases.”

5 “Who is this coming up from the wilderness

Leaning on her beloved?”

“Beneath the apple tree I awakened you;

There your mother was in labor with you,

There she was in labor and gave you birth.

6 “Put me like a seal over your heart,

Like a seal on your arm.

For love is as strong as death,

Jealousy is as severe as Sheol;

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

The very flame of the LORD.

7 “Many waters cannot quench love,

Nor will rivers overflow it;

If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love,

It would be utterly despised.”

8 “We have a little sister,

And she has no breasts;

What shall we do for our sister

On the day when she is spoken for?

9 “If she is a wall,

We will build on her a battlement of silver;

But if she is a door,

We will barricade her with planks of cedar.”

10 “I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers;

Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.

11 “Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;

He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers.

Each one was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

12 “My very own vineyard is at my disposal;

The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,

And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit.”

13 “O you who sit in the gardens,

My companions are listening for your voice--

Let me hear it!”

14 “Hurry, my beloved,

And be like a gazelle or a young stag

On the mountains of spices.”

1 CORINTHIANS 3

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Foundations for Living  3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?
    5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
    10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
    16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
    18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”; 20 and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.” 21 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.