Song of Solomon 8

¹⁰Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house,

¹¹and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your lord.

⁹Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

³⁸Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

⁷I will shake all the nations, and they will come with all their treasures, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts.

¹“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts.

⁴I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

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.

¹²Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my love.

²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

⁴⁶If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.

⁴⁷But since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

³⁹You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,

⁶His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.

⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

²⁷The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’

⁴No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be His bride.

⁵For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

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.

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.

⁶Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?

³A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

⁸My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

³Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

⁴I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

¹¹Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord, saying, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster can come upon us.”

¹¹They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.

¹⁶Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.

²⁰I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

²¹For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

⁸O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

¹⁴and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she has not defiled herself—

³⁵He will not be appeased by any ransom, or persuaded by lavish gifts.

³¹Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house.

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

⁸Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

⁹The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁴Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

²⁵The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.

²⁸And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

²⁹For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.

¹²Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

⁵⁵And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state. You and your daughters will also return to your former state.

⁵⁶Did you not treat your sister Sodom as an object of scorn in the day of your pride,

²¹Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

⁸Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession.

¹What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

²Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

¹⁰Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in anger, yet in favor I will show you mercy.

¹¹Your gates will always stand open; they will never be shut, day or night, so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into you, with their kings being led in procession.

¹²And you are to tell him that this is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the temple of the Lord.

¹³Yes, He will build the temple of the Lord; He will be clothed in splendor and will sit on His throne and rule. And He will be a priest on His throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two.’

²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

²¹In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

¹⁰By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds.

¹¹For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

¹⁵He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards.

¹²The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates.

¹³There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.

¹⁷Instead of bronze I will bring you gold; I will bring silver in place of iron, bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones. I will appoint peace as your governor and righteousness as your ruler.

¹⁰Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in anger, yet in favor I will show you mercy.

⁷I made you thrive like a plant of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.

³⁰So the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

⁷Your stature is like a palm tree; your breasts are clusters of fruit.

⁸I said, “I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples,

⁶to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.

⁴Then you will find favor and high regard in the sight of God and man.

⁴I expanded my pursuits. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

²³And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.

³³Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.

³⁴When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit.

¹Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.

¹⁶And he said to Sarah, “See, I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you; you are completely cleared.”

¹I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

²He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!

⁶Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.

²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

¹⁹After all, who is our hope, our joy, our crown of boasting, if it is not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?

²³Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.

²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

¹⁷May his name endure forever; may his name continue as long as the sun shines. In him may all nations be blessed; may they call him blessed.

¹⁸Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.

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.

⁷Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?

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

¹¹And when the Philistines saw him, they selected thirty men to accompany him.

²¹Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, “Lord, why are You going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?”

¹⁴In colorful garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions are brought before you.

¹⁷Before the day breaks and shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.

²⁰He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

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.

⁹My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

²³I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed.

⁶Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.