Bible Society of South Africa

Bible Reading Plan – Day 147

Bible text(s)

Song of Songs 5

The Man

1I have entered my garden,

my sweetheart, my bride.

I am gathering my spices and myrrh;

I am eating my honey and honeycomb;

I am drinking my wine and milk.

The Women

Eat, lovers, and drink

until you are drunk with love!

The Fourth Song

The Woman

2While I slept, my heart was awake.

I dreamt my lover knocked at the door.

The Man

Let me come in, my darling,

my sweetheart, my dove.

My head is wet with dew,

and my hair is damp from the mist.

The Woman

3I have already undressed;

why should I get dressed again?

I have washed my feet;

why should I get them dirty again?

4My lover put his hand to the door,

and I was thrilled that he was near.

5I was ready to let him come in.

My hands were covered with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh,

as I grasped the handle of the door.

6I opened the door for my lover,

but he had already gone.

How I wanted to hear his voice!

I looked for him, but couldn't find him;

I called to him, but heard no answer.

7The watchmen patrolling the city found me;

they struck me and bruised me;

the guards at the city wall tore off my cape.

8Promise me, women of Jerusalem,

that if you find my lover,

you will tell him I am weak from passion.

The Women

9Most beautiful of women,

is your lover different from everyone else?

What is there so wonderful about him

that we should give you our promise?

The Woman

10My lover is handsome and strong;

he is one in 10,000.

11His face is bronzed and smooth;

his hair is wavy,

black as a raven.

12His eyes are as beautiful as doves by a flowing brook,

doves washed in milk and standing by the stream.

13His cheeks are as lovely as a garden

that is full of herbs and spices.

His lips are like lilies,

wet with liquid myrrh.

14His hands are well formed,

and he wears rings set with gems.

His body is like smooth ivory,

with sapphires set in it.

15His thighs are columns of alabaster

set in sockets of gold.

He is majestic, like the Lebanon Mountains

with their towering cedars.

16His mouth is sweet to kiss;

everything about him enchants me.

This is what my lover is like,

women of Jerusalem.

Song of Songs 6

The Women

1Most beautiful of women,

where has your lover gone?

Tell us which way your lover went,

so that we can help you find him.

The Woman

2My lover has gone to his garden,

where the balsam trees grow.

He is feeding his flock in the garden

and gathering lilies.

3My lover is mine, and I am his;

he feeds his flock among the lilies.

The Fifth Song

The Man

4My love, you are as beautiful as Jerusalem,

as lovely as the city of Tirzah,

as breathtaking as these great cities.

5Turn your eyes away from me;

they are holding me captive.

Your hair dances, like a flock of goats

bounding down the hills of Gilead.

6Your teeth are as white as a flock of sheep

that have just been washed.

Not one of them is missing;

they are all perfectly matched.

7Your cheeks glow behind your veil.

8Let the king have sixty queens, eighty concubines,

young women without number!

9But I love only one,

and she is as lovely as a dove.

She is her mother's only daughter,

her mother's favourite child.

All women look at her and praise her;

queens and concubines sing her praises.

10Who is this whose glance is like the dawn?

She is beautiful and bright,

as dazzling as the sun or the moon.

11I have come down among the almond trees

to see the young plants in the valley,

to see the new leaves on the vines

and the blossoms on the pomegranate trees.

12I am trembling; you have made me as eager for love

as a chariot driver is for battle.

The Women

13Dance, dance, girl of Shulam.

Let us watch you as you dance.

The Woman

Why do you want to watch me

as I dance between the rows of onlookers?

Song of Songs 7

The Man

1What a wonderful woman you are!

How beautiful are your feet in sandals.

The curve of your thighs

is like the work of an artist.

2A bowl is there,

that never runs out of spiced wine.

A sheaf of wheat is there,

surrounded by lilies.

3Your breasts are like twin deer,

like two gazelles.

4Your neck is like a tower of ivory.

Your eyes are like the pools in the city of Heshbon,

near the gate of that great city.

Your nose is as lovely as the tower of Lebanon

that stands guard at Damascus.

5Your head is held high like Mount Carmel.

Your braided hair shines like the finest satin;

its beauty could hold a king captive.

6How pretty you are, how beautiful;

how complete the delights of your love.

7You are as graceful as a palm tree,

and your breasts are clusters of dates.

8I will climb the palm tree

and pick its fruit.

To me your breasts are like bunches of grapes,

your breath like the fragrance of apples,

9and your mouth like the finest wine.

The Woman

Then let the wine flow straight to my lover,

flowing over his lips and teeth.

10I belong to my lover, and he desires me.

11Come, darling, let's go out to the countryside

and spend the night in the villages.

12We will get up early and look at the vines

to see whether they've started to grow,

whether the blossoms are opening

and the pomegranate trees are in bloom.

There I will give you my love.

13You can smell the scent of mandrakes,

and all the pleasant fruits are near our door.

Darling, I have kept for you

the old delights and the new.

Song of Songs 8

1I wish that you were my brother,

that my mother had nursed you at her breast.

Then, if I met you in the street,

I could kiss you and no one would mind.

2I would take you to my mother's house,

where you could teach me love.

I would give you spiced wine,

my pomegranate wine to drink.

3Your left hand is under my head,

and your right hand caresses me.

4Promise me, women of Jerusalem,

that you will not interrupt our love.

The Sixth Song

The Women

5Who is this coming from the desert,

arm in arm with her lover?

The Woman

Under the apple tree I woke you,

in the place where you were born.

6Close your heart to every love but mine;

hold no one in your arms but me.

Love is as powerful as death;

passion is as strong as death itself.

It bursts into flame

and burns like a raging fire.

7Water cannot put it out;

no flood can drown it.

But if anyone tried to buy love with wealth,

contempt is all they would get.

The Woman's Brothers

8We have a young sister,

and her breasts are still small.

What will we do for her

when a young man comes courting?

9If she is a wall,

we will build her a silver tower.

But if she is a gate,

we will protect her with panels of cedar.

The Woman

10I am a wall,

and my breasts are its towers.

My lover knows that with him

I find contentment and peace.

The Man

11Solomon has a vineyard

in a place called Baal Hamon.

There are farmers who rent it from him;

each one pays a thousand silver coins.

12Solomon is welcome to his thousand coins,

and the farmers to 200 as their share;

I have a vineyard of my own!

13Let me hear your voice from the garden, my love;

my companions are waiting to hear you speak.

The Woman

14Come to me, my lover, like a gazelle,

like a young stag on the mountains where spices grow.

Song of Songs 5:1-8:14GNBOpen in Bible reader
Bible Society of South Africav.4.23.1
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