Song of Songs 1, 2
The Bride
1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,
For your love is better than wine,
3 And the smell of your ointments is better than all spices.
Your name is ointment poured forth;
Therefore, the young maidens love you.
4 They draw you.
Companions
We will run after you
For the smell of your ointments.
The Bride
The king brought me into his chamber.
Companions
Let us be extremely joyful and glad in you.
We will love your breasts more than wine;
Uprightness loves you.
The Bride
5 I am black and beautiful,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
As the tents of Kedar,
As the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not look at me because I am black,
For the sun gave me a tan.
The sons of my mother fought with me
And made me keeper in the vineyards.
But I have not kept my own vineyard.
7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
Where you shepherd your flock,
Where you rest them at noonday;
Lest I become as one
Who encompasses herself
With the herds of your companions.
The Groom
8 If you do not know yourself,
Fairest among women,
Go forth on the heels of the flocks,
And tend your young goats by the shepherds’ tents.
9 I have likened you, my beloved,
To my horses in the chariots of Pharaoh.
10 Your cheeks are as beautiful as turtledoves,
Your neck as a small necklace.
Companions
11 We will make for you figures of gold
With studs of silver.
The Bride
12 While the king was at the table,
My spikenard gave forth its smell.
13 My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh;
He shall take rest in between my breasts.
14 To me, my beloved is a cluster of grapes from Cyprus
In the vineyards of En Gedi.
The Groom
15 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved;
Behold, you are beautiful;
Your eyes are doves.
The Bride
16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved,
And indeed lovely;
Our bed is shaded.
17 The beams of our houses are cedars;
Our ceilings are cypress wood.
1 I am a flower of the plain,
A lily of the valleys.
The Groom
2 As a lily among thorns,
So is my beloved among the daughters.
The Bride
3 As the apple among the trees of the woods,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I desired to be in his shadow and to sit down;
And his fruit was sweet in my mouth.
4 Bring me into the house of wine;
Set love before me.
5 Strengthen me with cakes of raisins;
Refresh me with apples,
For I am wounded with love.
6 His left hand shall be under my head,
And his right hand shall embrace me.
7 I implore you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the hosts and powers of the field,
That you rouse not nor wake my love
Until he wishes.
8 The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes leaping on the mountains
And skipping over the hills.
9 My beloved is as a gazelle or a young stag
On the mountains of Bethel.
Behold, he stands behind our wall,
Looking through the windows
And peering through the lattices.
10 My beloved answers and says to me,
“Rise up and come, my companion, my fair one, my dove.
11 For behold, the winter is past,
And the rain is gone;
It has departed.
12 The flowers are seen in the land;
The time of pruning has arrived;
The voice of the dove is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree has put forth its young figs,
And the vines are in bloom and give forth their fragrance.
Arise and come, my companion, my fair one, my dove,
14 And come, my dove, to the shelter of the rock,
And take hold of the wall.
Show me your face,
And cause me to hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your face is beautiful.”
Companions
15 Catch us the foxes,
The little ones that spoil the vineyard,
For our vines are in bloom.
The Bride
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his,
He who shepherds his flock among the lilies.
17 Until the day dawns and the shadows depart,
My beloved, turn back, and be as likened to
A gazelle or a young stag
On the mountains of the ravines.
Psalm 49:16–23
16 To the sinner God says,
“Why do you declare My ordinances,
And take up My covenant in your mouth?
17 You hate My instruction,
And cast My words behind you.
18 If you see a thief, you run with him,
And you keep company with adulterers.
19 Your mouth is filled with evil,
And your tongue weaves deceits.
20 You sit and speak against your brother,
And place a stumbling block before your mother’s son.
21 You do these things, and I keep silent;
You think I am lawless like you;
But I shall rebuke you, and contradict you to your face.
22 Understand these things, you who forget God,
Lest He snatch you away, and there be none to deliver;
23 A sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me,
And there is the way whereby I will show him the salvation of God.”
Proverbs 10:17–22
17 The works of the righteous produce life,
But the fruits of the ungodly produce sins.
18 Instruction guards righteous ways of life,
But instruction incapable of criticism goes astray.
19 Righteous lips cover hatred,
But those who bring forth abuse are very lacking in discernment.
20 You will not escape sin by a multitude of words,
But you of discreet lips will be forbearing.
21 The tongue of a righteous man is silver tried in the fire,
But the heart of an ungodly man shall fail.
22 The lips of righteous men understand lofty things,
But men without discernment die in want.
1 Corinthians 7:25–40
25 Now concerning virgins: I have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy.
26 I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress—that it is good for a man to remain as he is:
27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
28 But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.
29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none,
30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess,
31 and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.
32 But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord.
33 But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife.
34 There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.
35 And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.
36 But if any man thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of youth, and thus it must be, let him do what he wishes. He does not sin; let them marry.
37 Nevertheless he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so determined in his heart that he will keep his virgin, does well.
38 So then he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.
39 A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
40 But she is happier if she remains as she is, according to my judgment—and I think I also have the Spirit of God.