Song of Solomon 5-8
New King James Version
The Bride Praises the Bridegroom
The Beloved
5 I (A)have come to my garden, my (B)sister, my spouse;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
(C)I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
(To His Friends)
Eat, O (D)friends!
Drink, yes, drink deeply,
O beloved ones!
The Shulamite’s Troubled Evening
The Shulamite
2 I sleep, but my heart is awake;
It is the voice of my beloved!
(E)He knocks, saying,
“Open for me, my sister, [a]my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is covered with dew,
My [b]locks with the drops of the night.”
3 I have taken off my robe;
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet;
How can I [c]defile them?
4 My beloved put his hand
By the [d]latch of the door,
And my heart yearned for him.
5 I arose to open for my beloved,
And my hands dripped with myrrh,
My fingers with liquid myrrh,
On the handles of the lock.
6 I opened for my beloved,
But my beloved had turned away and was gone.
My [e]heart leaped up when he spoke.
(F)I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7 (G)The watchmen who went about the city found me.
They struck me, they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls
Took my veil away from me.
8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
That you tell him I am lovesick!
The Daughters of Jerusalem
9 What is your beloved
More than another beloved,
(H)O fairest among women?
What is your beloved
More than another beloved,
That you so [f]charge us?
The Shulamite
10 My beloved is white and ruddy,
[g]Chief among ten thousand.
11 His head is like the finest gold;
His locks are wavy,
And black as a raven.
12 (I)His eyes are like doves
By the rivers of waters,
Washed with milk,
And [h]fitly set.
13 His cheeks are like a bed of spices,
Banks of scented herbs.
His lips are lilies,
Dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His hands are rods of gold
Set with beryl.
His body is carved ivory
Inlaid with sapphires.
15 His legs are pillars of marble
Set on bases of fine gold.
His countenance is like Lebanon,
Excellent as the cedars.
16 His mouth is most sweet,
Yes, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved,
And this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem!
I Am My Beloved’s
The Daughters of Jerusalem
6 Where has your beloved gone,
(J)O fairest among women?
Where has your beloved turned aside,
That we may seek him with you?
The Shulamite
2 My beloved has gone to his (K)garden,
To the beds of spices,
To feed his flock in the gardens,
And to gather lilies.
3 (L)I am my beloved’s,
And my beloved is mine.
He feeds his flock among the lilies.
Praise of the Shulamite’s Beauty
The Beloved
4 O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,
Lovely as Jerusalem,
Awesome as an army with banners!
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
For they have [i]overcome me.
Your hair is (M)like a flock of goats
Going down from Gilead.
6 (N)Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
Which have come up from the washing;
Every one bears twins,
And none is [j]barren among them.
7 (O)Like a piece of pomegranate
Are your temples behind your veil.
8 There are sixty queens
And eighty concubines,
And (P)virgins without number.
9 My dove, my (Q)perfect one,
Is the only one,
The only one of her mother,
The favorite of the one who bore her.
The daughters saw her
And called her blessed,
The queens and the concubines,
And they praised her.
10 Who is she who looks forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
(R)Awesome as an army with banners?
The Shulamite
11 I went down to the garden of nuts
To see the verdure of the valley,
(S)To see whether the vine had budded
And the pomegranates had bloomed.
12 Before I was even aware,
My soul had made me
As the chariots of [k]my noble people.
The Beloved and His Friends
13 Return, return, O Shulamite;
Return, return, that we may look upon you!
The Shulamite
What would you see in the Shulamite—
As it were, the dance of [l]the two camps?
Expressions of Praise
The Beloved
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
(T)O prince’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a skillful workman.
2 Your navel is a rounded goblet;
It lacks no [m]blended beverage.
Your waist is a heap of wheat
Set about with lilies.
3 (U)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
4 (V)Your neck is like an ivory tower,
Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
Which looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,
And the hair of your head is like purple;
A king is held captive by your tresses.
6 How fair and how pleasant you are,
O love, with your delights!
7 This stature of yours is like a palm tree,
And your breasts like its clusters.
8 I said, “I will go up to the palm tree,
I will take hold of its branches.”
Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
The fragrance of your [n]breath like apples,
9 And the roof of your mouth like the best wine.
The Shulamite
The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved,
[o]Moving gently the [p]lips of sleepers.
10 (W)I am my beloved’s,
And (X)his desire is toward me.
11 Come, my beloved,
Let us go forth to the field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards;
Let us (Y)see if the vine has budded,
Whether the grape blossoms are open,
And the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The (Z)mandrakes give off a fragrance,
And at our gates (AA)are pleasant fruits,
All manner, new and old,
Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.
Lovers Reunited at Their Country Home
8 Oh, that you were like my brother,
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I should find you outside,
I would kiss you;
I would not be despised.
2 I would lead you and bring you
Into the (AB)house of my mother,
She who used to instruct me.
I would cause you to drink of (AC)spiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.
(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)
3 (AD)His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
4 (AE)I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
Love Renewed in Lebanon
A Relative
5 (AF)Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
I awakened you under the apple tree.
There your mother brought you forth;
There she who bore you brought you forth.
The Shulamite to Her Beloved
6 (AG)Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
(AH)Jealousy as [q]cruel as [r]the grave;
Its flames are flames of fire,
[s]A most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
(AI)If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.
The Shulamite’s Brothers
8 (AJ)We have a little sister,
And she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
We will build upon her
A battlement of silver;
And if she is a door,
We will enclose her
With boards of cedar.
The Shulamite
10 I am a wall,
And my breasts like towers;
Then I became in his eyes
As one who found peace.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;
(AK)He leased the vineyard to keepers;
Everyone was to bring for its fruit
A thousand silver coins.
(To Solomon)
12 My own vineyard is before me.
You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,
And those who tend its fruit two hundred.
The Beloved
13 You who dwell in the gardens,
The companions listen for your voice—
(AL)Let me hear it!
The Shulamite
14 (AM)Make[t] haste, my beloved,
And (AN)be like a gazelle
Or a young stag
On the mountains of spices.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 5:2 my companion, friend
- Song of Solomon 5:2 curls or hair
- Song of Solomon 5:3 dirty
- Song of Solomon 5:4 opening
- Song of Solomon 5:6 Lit. soul
- Song of Solomon 5:9 adjure
- Song of Solomon 5:10 Distinguished
- Song of Solomon 5:12 sitting in a setting
- Song of Solomon 6:5 overwhelmed
- Song of Solomon 6:6 bereaved
- Song of Solomon 6:12 Heb. Ammi Nadib
- Song of Solomon 6:13 Heb. Mahanaim
- Song of Solomon 7:2 Lit. mixed or spiced drink
- Song of Solomon 7:8 Lit. nose
- Song of Solomon 7:9 Gliding over
- Song of Solomon 7:9 LXX, Syr., Vg. lips and teeth.
- Song of Solomon 8:6 severe, lit. hard
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Or Sheol
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Lit. A flame of Yah, poetic form of YHWH, the Lord
- Song of Solomon 8:14 Hurry, lit. Flee
Philippians 1
New King James Version
Greeting
1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the [a]bishops and (A)deacons:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thankfulness and Prayer
3 (B)I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in (C)every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 (D)for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun (E)a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness (F)which are by Jesus Christ, (G)to the glory and praise of God.
Christ Is Preached
12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident (H)to the whole [b]palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; 14 and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: 16 [c]The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; 17 but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.
To Live Is Christ
19 For I know that (I)this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but (J)with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life (K)or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I [d]cannot tell. 23 [e]For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a (L)desire to depart and be with Christ, which is (M)far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. 25 And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, 26 that (N)your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.
Striving and Suffering for Christ
27 Only (O)let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, (P)with one mind (Q)striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but [f]to you of salvation, and that from God. 29 For to you (R)it has been granted on behalf of Christ, (S)not only to believe in Him, but also to (T)suffer for His sake, 30 (U)having the same conflict (V)which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
Footnotes
- Philippians 1:1 Lit. overseers
- Philippians 1:13 Or Praetorium
- Philippians 1:16 NU reverses vv. 16 and 17.
- Philippians 1:22 do not know
- Philippians 1:23 NU, M But
- Philippians 1:28 NU of your salvation
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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