Bible Reading Plan

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!^[b](a)

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.

¹  Y Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way has he^[a] turned?
We will seek him with you.

²  W My love has gone down to his garden,^(a)
to beds of spice,^(b)
to feed in the gardens^(c)
and gather lilies.^(d)
3 I am my love's and my love is mine;^(e)
he feeds among the lilies.

⁴  M You are as beautiful as Tirzah,^[b] my darling,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners.^(f)
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
for they captivate me.^(g)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead.^(h)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing.^[c](i)
7 Behind your veil,^(j)
your brow^[d] is like a slice of pomegranate.
⁸ There are 60 queens
and 80 concubines^(k)
and young women^[e] without number.
⁹ But my dove,^(l) my virtuous one, is unique;^(m)
she is the favorite of her mother,
perfect to the one who gave her birth.
Women see her and declare her fortunate;⁽ⁿ⁾
queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:

¹⁰  Y ^[f] Who is this^[g](o) who shines like the dawn—
as beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners?^(p)

¹¹  W I came down to the walnut grove
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines were budding^(q)
and the pomegranates blooming.
¹² Before I knew it,
my desire put me
among the chariots of my noble people.^[h]

^13 [i] Y Come back, come back, Shulammite!^[j][k]
Come back, come back, that we may look at you!

M Why are you looking at the Shulammite,
as you look at the dance^(r) of the two camps?^[l](s)

¹ How beautiful are your sandaled feet, princess!^[a](a)
The curves of your thighs are like jewelry,
the handiwork of a master.
² Your navel is a rounded bowl;
it never lacks mixed wine.
Your waist^[b] is a mound of wheat
surrounded by lilies.
³ Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.^(b)
4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory,^(c)
your eyes like pools in Heshbon
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
looking toward Damascus.
⁵ Your head crowns you^[c] like Mount Carmel,
the hair of your head like purple cloth—
a king could be held captive^(d) in your tresses.
⁶ How beautiful you are and how pleasant,^(e)
my love, with such delights!
⁷ Your stature is like a palm tree;
your breasts are clusters of fruit.
⁸ I said, "I will climb the palm tree
and take hold of its fruit."^(f)
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
and the fragrance of your breath like apricots.^(g)
9 Your mouth^[d] is like fine wine^(h)—

W flowing smoothly for my love,
gliding past my lips and teeth!^[e]
10 I belong to my love,
and his desire⁽ⁱ⁾ is for me.^(j)

¹¹ Come, my love,
let's go to the field;
let's spend the night among the henna blossoms.^[f]
12 Let's go early to the vineyards;
let's see if the vine has budded,
if the blossom has opened,
if the pomegranates are in bloom.^(k)
There I will give you my love.
¹³ The mandrakes^(l) give off a fragrance,
and at our doors is every delicacy—
new as well as old.
I have treasured them up for you, my love.

¹ If only I could treat you like my brother,^[a]
one who nursed at my mother's breasts,
I would find you in public and kiss you,
and no one would scorn me.
² I would lead you, I would take you,
to the house of my mother^(a) who taught me.^[b]
I would give you spiced wine to drink
from my pomegranate juice.
³ His left hand is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.^(b)
4 Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:
do not stir up or awaken love
until the appropriate time.^(c)

⁵  Y Who is this^(d) coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on the one she loves?

W I awakened you under the apricot tree.^(e)
There your mother conceived you;
there she conceived and gave you birth.
⁶ Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm.^(f)
For love is as strong as death;^(g)
ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol.
Love's flames are fiery flames^(h)—
the fiercest of all.^[c]
7 Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If a man were to give all his wealth^[d] for love,⁽ⁱ⁾
it would be utterly scorned.

⁸  B Our sister is young;
she has no breasts.^(j)
What will we do for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?
⁹ If she is a wall,
we will build a silver parapet on it.
If she is a door,
we will enclose it with cedar planks.^[e](k)

¹⁰  W I am^[f] a wall
and my breasts like towers.
So in his eyes I have become
like one who finds peace.^[g]

¹¹ Solomon owned a vineyard in Baal-hamon.^(l)
He leased the vineyard to tenants.^(m)
Each was to bring for his fruit
1,000 pieces of silver.^(n)
12 I have my own vineyard.^[h](o)
The 1,000 are for you, Solomon,
but 200 for those who guard its fruits.

¹³  M You^[i] who dwell in the gardens—
companions^(p) are listening for your voice—
let me hear you!^(q)

¹⁴  W Hurry to me, my love,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.^(r)