Song of Solomon 5

²My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.

¹⁶Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Breathe on my garden and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choicest fruits.

¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.

⁹You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.

¹⁰How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! Your love is much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices.

¹“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!

²Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.

¹³You who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice. Let me hear it!

²⁰Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.

¹⁴O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your countenance is lovely.

⁹but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the favorite of the mother who bore her. The maidens see her and call her blessed; the queens and concubines sing her praises.

¹Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and woke me, as a man is awakened from his sleep.

¹Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the Lord.

⁷You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw.

⁷And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’

²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

²³But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

¹³The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”

³⁸Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”

³⁹Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

²⁸Do not tell your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I will provide”—when you already have the means.

⁵When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

¹³For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

⁴Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.

¹⁴Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

¹⁶But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you.

²⁶Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”

³Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.

¹³His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.

¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,

¹³Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard,

¹⁴with nard and saffron, with calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of frankincense tree, with myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices.

²⁰Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.

⁹yet now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us.

¹⁰Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

³⁶Then you will be like servants waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.

²I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

¹⁵Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

⁶They go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but they do not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them.

²For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”

⁶For the Lord has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God.

⁷“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back.

³I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?”

²“The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

⁵Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.

⁵Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked.

²They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.

⁶as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.

⁵Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

⁷O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

¹For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.

²My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

⁵O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

²Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

⁸¹My soul faints for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.

⁸²My eyes fail, looking for Your promise; I ask, “When will You comfort me?”

¹Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you.

⁸If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.

⁹but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the favorite of the mother who bore her. The maidens see her and call her blessed; the queens and concubines sing her praises.

¹⁰Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?

¹³All glorious is the princess in her chamber; her gown is embroidered with gold.

²He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned His disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

²You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.

¹⁷I will commemorate your name through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you forever and ever.

¹I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.

⁹Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names,

¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

²⁶Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

¹⁸And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.

⁵Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple threads; the king is captured in your tresses.

¹⁴The hair of His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a blazing fire.

²I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

⁹As I continued to watch, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.

²¹far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

²²And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,

³⁷You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength, and glory.

³⁸Wherever the sons of men or beasts of the field or birds of the air dwell, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

¹How beautiful you are, my darling—how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.

¹⁵How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.

¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

¹⁰Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.

¹I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.

²My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.

¹¹Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon.

¹⁵Blessed are those who know the joyful sound, who walk, O Lord, in the light of Your presence.

²You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.

¹⁰and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was a work like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.

¹¹“O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.

⁷Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

¹³Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

¹⁶The workmanship of the wheels looked like the gleam of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. Their workmanship looked like a wheel within a wheel.

⁶Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has shattered the enemy.

³³He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

¹⁵His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters.

¹⁶He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

²⁸You have made known to me the paths of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence.’

⁷They will return and dwell in his shade; they will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

¹²The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

¹⁹with forty silver bases under the twenty frames—two bases for each frame, one under each tenon.

²You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.

⁹and your mouth like the finest wine. May it flow smoothly to my beloved, gliding gently over lips and teeth.

¹⁰³How sweet are Your words to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth!

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

¹⁶How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how delightful! The soft grass is our bed.

⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.