SONG OF SOLOMON 1

« Ecclesiastes 12 | Song of Solomon 1 | Song of Solomon 2 »

The Young Shulammite Bride and Jerusalem’s Daughters  1:1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
2 “May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your love is better than wine.

3 “Your oils have a pleasing fragrance,

Your name is like purified oil;

Therefore the maidens love you.

4 “Draw me after you and let us run together!

The king has brought me into his chambers.”

“We will rejoice in you and be glad;

We will extol your love more than wine.

Rightly do they love you.”

5 “I am black but lovely,

O daughters of Jerusalem,

Like the tents of Kedar,

Like the curtains of Solomon.

6 “Do not stare at me because I am swarthy,

For the sun has burned me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me;

They made me caretaker of the vineyards,

But I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

7 “Tell me, O you whom my soul loves,

Where do you pasture your flock,

Where do you make it lie down at noon?

For why should I be like one who veils herself

Beside the flocks of your companions?”

Solomon, the Lover, Speaks8 “If you yourself do not know,

Most beautiful among women,

Go forth on the trail of the flock

And pasture your young goats

By the tents of the shepherds.

9 “To me, my darling, you are like

My mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.

10 “Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,

Your neck with strings of beads.”

11 “We will make for you ornaments of gold

With beads of silver.”

12 “While the king was at his table,

My perfume gave forth its fragrance.

13 “My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh

Which lies all night between my breasts.

14 “My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms

In the vineyards of Engedi.”

15 “How beautiful you are, my darling,

How beautiful you are!

Your eyes are like doves.”

16 “How handsome you are, my beloved,

And so pleasant!

Indeed, our couch is luxuriant!

17 “The beams of our houses are cedars,

Our rafters, cypresses.

SONG OF SOLOMON 2

« Song of Solomon 1 | Song of Solomon 2 | Song of Solomon 3 »

The Bride’s Admiration2:1 “I am the rose of Sharon,

The lily of the valleys.”

2 “Like a lily among the thorns,

So is my darling among the maidens.”

3 “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

So is my beloved among the young men.

In his shade I took great delight and sat down,

And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

4 “He has brought me to his banquet hall,

And his banner over me is love.

5 “Sustain me with raisin cakes,

Refresh me with apples,

Because I am lovesick.

6 “Let his left hand be under my head

And his right hand embrace me.”

7 “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the gazelles or by the hinds of the field,

That you do not arouse or awaken my love

Until she pleases.”

8 “Listen! My beloved!

Behold, he is coming,

Climbing on the mountains,

Leaping on the hills!

9 “My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.

Behold, he is standing behind our wall,

He is looking through the windows,

He is peering through the lattice.

10 “My beloved responded and said to me,

‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along.

11 ‘For behold, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone.

12 ‘The flowers have already appeared in the land;

The time has arrived for pruning the vines,

And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.

13 ‘The fig tree has ripened its figs,

And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance.

Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along!’”

14 “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

In the secret place of the steep pathway,

Let me see your form,

Let me hear your voice;

For your voice is sweet,

And your form is lovely.”

15 “Catch the foxes for us,

The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards,

While our vineyards are in blossom.”

16 “My beloved is mine, and I am his;

He pastures his flock among the lilies.

17 “Until the cool of the day when the shadows flee away,

Turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle

Or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.”

PROVERBS 30

« Proverbs 29 | Proverbs 30 | Proverbs 31 »

The Words of Agur  30:1 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle.
    The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

2 Surely I am more stupid than any man,

And I do not have the understanding of a man.

3 Neither have I learned wisdom,

Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

4 Who has ascended into heaven and descended?

Who has gathered the wind in His fists?

Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is His name or His son’s name?

Surely you know!

5 Every word of God is tested;

He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

6 Do not add to His words

Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.

7 Two things I asked of You,

Do not refuse me before I die:

8 Keep deception and lies far from me,

Give me neither poverty nor riches;

Feed me with the food that is my portion,

9 That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?”

Or that I not be in want and steal,

And profane the name of my God.

10 Do not slander a slave to his master,

Or he will curse you and you will be found guilty.

11 There is a kind of man who curses his father

And does not bless his mother.

12 There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes,

Yet is not washed from his filthiness.

13 There is a kind--oh how lofty are his eyes!

And his eyelids are raised in arrogance.

14 There is a kind of man whose teeth are like swords

And his jaw teeth like knives,

To devour the afflicted from the earth

And the needy from among men.

15 The leech has two daughters,

“Give,” “Give.”

There are three things that will not be satisfied,

Four that will not say, “Enough”:

16 Sheol, and the barren womb,

Earth that is never satisfied with water,

And fire that never says, “Enough.”

17 The eye that mocks a father

And scorns a mother,

The ravens of the valley will pick it out,

And the young eagles will eat it.

18 There are three things which are too wonderful for me,

Four which I do not understand:

19 The way of an eagle in the sky,

The way of a serpent on a rock,

The way of a ship in the middle of the sea,

And the way of a man with a maid.

20 This is the way of an adulterous woman:

She eats and wipes her mouth,

And says, “I have done no wrong.”

21 Under three things the earth quakes,

And under four, it cannot bear up:

22 Under a slave when he becomes king,

And a fool when he is satisfied with food,

23 Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband,

And a maidservant when she supplants her mistress.

24 Four things are small on the earth,

But they are exceedingly wise:

25 The ants are not a strong people,

But they prepare their food in the summer;

26 The shephanim are not mighty people,

Yet they make their houses in the rocks;

27 The locusts have no king,

Yet all of them go out in ranks;

28 The lizard you may grasp with the hands,

Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

29 There are three things which are stately in their march,

Even four which are stately when they walk:

30 The lion which is mighty among beasts

And does not retreat before any,

31 The strutting rooster, the male goat also,

And a king when his army is with him.

32 If you have been foolish in exalting yourself

Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.

33 For the churning of milk produces butter,

And pressing the nose brings forth blood;

So the churning of anger produces strife.

PSALM 101

« Psalm 100 | Psalm 101 | Psalm 102 »

The Psalmist’s Profession of Uprightness.A Psalm of David.
101:1 I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,

To You, O LORD, I will sing praises.

2 I will give heed to the blameless way.

When will You come to me?

I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.

3 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;

I hate the work of those who fall away;

It shall not fasten its grip on me.

4 A perverse heart shall depart from me;

I will know no evil.

5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;

No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.

6 My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;

He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.

7 He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;

He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.

8 Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,

So as to cut off from the city of the LORD all those who do iniquity.

PSALM 102

« Psalm 101 | Psalm 102 | Psalm 103 »

Prayer of an Afflicted Man for Mercy on Himself and on Zion.A Prayer of the Afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.
102:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD!

And let my cry for help come to You.

2 Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress;

Incline Your ear to me;

In the day when I call answer me quickly.

3 For my days have been consumed in smoke,

And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.

4 My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away,

Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.

5 Because of the loudness of my groaning

My bones cling to my flesh.

6 I resemble a pelican of the wilderness;

I have become like an owl of the waste places.

7 I lie awake,

I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.

8 My enemies have reproached me all day long;

Those who deride me have used my name as a curse.

9 For I have eaten ashes like bread

And mingled my drink with weeping

10 Because of Your indignation and Your wrath,

For You have lifted me up and cast me away.

11 My days are like a lengthened shadow,

And I wither away like grass.

12 But You, O LORD, abide forever,

And Your name to all generations.

13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion;

For it is time to be gracious to her,

For the appointed time has come.

14 Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones

And feel pity for her dust.

15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD

And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

16 For the LORD has built up Zion;

He has appeared in His glory.

17 He has regarded the prayer of the destitute

And has not despised their prayer.

18 This will be written for the generation to come,

That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.

19 For He looked down from His holy height;

From heaven the LORD gazed upon the earth,

20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner,

To set free those who were doomed to death,

21 That men may tell of the name of the LORD in Zion

And His praise in Jerusalem,

22 When the peoples are gathered together,

And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

23 He has weakened my strength in the way;

He has shortened my days.

24 I say, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days,

Your years are throughout all generations.

25 “Of old You founded the earth,

And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

26 “Even they will perish, but You endure;

And all of them will wear out like a garment;

Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.

27 “But You are the same,

And Your years will not come to an end.

28 “The children of Your servants will continue,

And their descendants will be established before You.”