1 The aSong of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
The Bride Confesses Her Love
She1
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is bbetter than wine;
3 your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
4 cDraw me after you; let us run.
The king has dbrought me into his chambers.
Others
We will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.
She
5 I am very dark, but lovely,
O edaughters of Jerusalem,
like the ftents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
they made me gkeeper of the vineyards,
but hmy own vineyard I have not kept!
7 Tell me, you iwhom my soul loves,
where you pasture your flock,
where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils herself
beside the flocks of your jcompanions?
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
8 If you do not know,
kO most beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your young goats
beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 I compare you, lmy love,
to a mare among Pharaoh’s mchariots.
10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
Others
11 We will make for you2 ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
She
12 While the king was on his couch,
my nnard gave forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of ohenna blossoms
in the vineyards of Engedi.
He
15 pBehold, qyou are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
ryour eyes are doves.
She
16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
17 the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafters are pine.
a lily of the valleys.
He
2 As a lily among brambles,
so is tmy love among the young women.
She
3 As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is umy beloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He vbrought me to the banqueting house,4
and his wbanner over me was love.
5 Sustain me with raisins;
refresh me with apples,
for xI am sick with love.
6 yHis left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
7 zI adjure you,5 O adaughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
The Bride Adores Her Beloved
8 The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is blike a gazelle
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
11 for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing6 has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in cblossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
14 O dmy dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
elet me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
15 Catch the foxes7 for us,
the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom.”
16 fMy beloved is mine, and I am his;
17 hUntil the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
or a young stag on cleft mountains.9
11 The Lord eswore to David a sure oath
from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body1
I will set on your fthrone.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
their sons also forever
shall sit on your throne.”
13 For gthe Lord has hchosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will isatisfy her poor with bread.
16 jHer priests I will kclothe with salvation,
and her saints will shout for joy.
17 There lI will make a horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared a mlamp for my anointed.
18 His enemies I will nclothe with shame,
but on him his crown will shine.”
The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem
1 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the gministry for the saints, 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready hsince last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But iI am sending1 the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, jas I said you would be. 4 Otherwise, if some kMacedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift2 you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, lnot as an exaction.3
The Cheerful Giver
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and mwhoever sows bountifully4 will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give nas he has decided in his heart, onot reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a pcheerful giver. 8 And qGod is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency5 in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,
r“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
10 He who supplies sseed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the tneeds of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, uthey6 will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your vconfession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your wcontribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible xgift!
Paul Defends His Ministry
1 I, Paul, myself yentreat you, by the zmeekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that awhen I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of bwalking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not cwaging war according to the flesh. 4 For the dweapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your eobedience is complete.
7 Look at what is before your eyes. fIf anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is gChrist’s, so also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of hour authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but ihis bodily presence is weak, and jhis speech of no account.” 11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only kwith regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For lwe were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16 mso that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. 17 n“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is onot the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
