Bible Reading Plan – Day 147

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.

Eat, lovers, and drink

until you are drunk with love!

₂While I slept, my heart was awake.

I dreamt my lover knocked at the door.

Let me come in, my darling,

my sweetheart, my dove.

My head is wet with dew,

and my hair is damp from the mist.

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.

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?

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.

₁Most beautiful of women,

where has your lover gone?

Tell us which way your lover went,

so that we can help you find him.

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.

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.

₁₃Dance, dance, girl of Shulam.

Let us watch you as you dance.

Why do you want to watch me

as I dance between the rows of onlookers?

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.

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.

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.

₅Who is this coming from the desert,

arm in arm with her lover?

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.

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.

₁₀I am a wall,

and my breasts are its towers.

My lover knows that with him

I find contentment and peace.

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.

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

like a young stag on the mountains where spices grow.