the First Week of Advent
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
June 23 - Old & New Testament
csb
Song of Solomon 4,5
1
M
How beautiful you are, my darling.
How very beautiful!
Behind your veil,
your eyes are doves.(a)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gilead.(b)
2 Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing.[a](c)
3 Your lips are like a scarlet cord,(d)
and your mouth[b] is lovely.
Behind your veil,
your brow[c] is like a slice of pomegranate.(e)
4 Your neck is like the tower of David,(f)
constructed in layers.
A thousand bucklers are hung on it—
all of them shields of warriors.[d]
5 Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle,(g) that feed among the lilies.
6 Before the day breaks[e]
and the shadows flee,(h)
I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh
and the hill of frankincense.(i)
7 You are absolutely beautiful,(j) my darling,
with no imperfection in you.
8 Come with me from Lebanon,[f](k) my bride(l)—
with me from Lebanon!
Descend from the peak of Amana,
from the summit of Senir and Hermon,(m)
from the dens of the lions,
from the mountains of the leopards.
9 You have captured my heart,(n) my sister,[g](o) my bride.
You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
10 How delightful your love is, my sister, my bride.
Your love is much better than wine,(p)
and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.
11 Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride.(q)
Honey and milk(r) are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden—
a locked garden[h] and a sealed spring.(s)
13 Your branches are a paradise[i] of pomegranates
with choicest fruits,(t)
henna with nard—
14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,(u)
with all the trees of frankincense,(v)
myrrh and aloes,(w)
with all the best spices.
15 You are a garden spring,
a well of flowing water(x)
streaming from Lebanon.
16
W
Awaken,(y) north wind—
come, south wind.
Blow on my garden,
and spread the fragrance of its spices.
Let my love come to his garden
and eat its choicest fruits.(z)
1
M
I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.
I gather[a] my myrrh with my spices.
I eat my honeycomb with my honey.
I drink my wine with my milk.
N
Eat, friends!
Drink, be intoxicated with love
2
W
I sleep, but my heart is awake.
A sound! My love is knocking!(b)
M
Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my perfect one.
For my head is drenched with dew,
my hair with droplets of the night.
3
W
I have taken off my clothing.(c)
How can I put it back on?
I have washed my feet.
How can I get them dirty?
4 My love thrust his hand through the opening,
and my feelings were stirred for him.
5 I rose to open for my love.
My hands dripped with myrrh,(d)
my fingers with flowing myrrh
on the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my love,
but my love had turned and gone away.
I was crushed[c] that he had left.[d]
I sought him, but did not find him.(e)
I called him, but he did not answer.
7 The guards who go about the city found me.(f)
They beat and wounded me;
they took my cloak[e] from me—
the guardians of the walls.(g)
8 Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:(h)
if you find my love,
tell him that I am lovesick.(i)
9
Y
What makes the one you love better than another,
most beautiful of women?(j)
What makes him better than another,
that you would give us this charge?
10
W
My love is fit and strong,[f](k)
notable among ten thousand.(l)
11 His head is purest gold.
His hair is wavy[g](m)
and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves(n)
beside streams of water,
washed in milk
and set like jewels.[h]
13 His cheeks(o) are like beds of spice,
towers of[i] perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.(p)
14 His arms[j] are rods of gold
set[k] with topaz.[l](q)
His body[m] is an ivory panel
covered with sapphires.(r)
15 His legs are alabaster pillars
set on pedestals of pure gold.
His presence is like Lebanon,(s)
as majestic as the cedars.(t)
16 His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.(u)
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.
Acts 7:1-21
Chapter 7
Stephen's Sermon
1 "Is this true?"[a] the high priest asked.
2 "Brothers and fathers," he said, "listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,(a) 3 and said to him:
Get out of your country
and away from your relatives,
and come to the land
that I will show you.
(b)[b]
4 "Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land you now live in.(c) 5 He didn't give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, but He promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him,(d) even though he was childless. 6 God spoke in this way:
His descendants would be strangers
in a foreign country,
and they would enslave
and oppress them 400 years.
7
I will judge the nation
that they will serve as slaves,
God said.
After this, they will come out
and worship Me in this place.
(e)[c]
8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised(f) him on the eighth day; Isaac did the same with Jacob, and Jacob with the 12 patriarchs.(g)
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9 "The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him(h) 10 and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.(i) 11 Then a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan,(j) and our ancestors could find no food. 12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors the first time. 13 The second time, Joseph was revealed to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Joseph then invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, 75 people in all,(k) 15 and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,(l) 16 were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.(m)
Moses, a Rejected Savior
17 "As the time was drawing near to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt(n) 18 until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt.[d] 19 He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them leave their infants outside, so they wouldn't survive.[e](o) 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight. He was cared for in his father's home three months, 21 and when he was left outside, Pharaoh's daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.(p)
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