The One Year Bible TLB (190 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
September 6This song of songs, more wonderful than any other, was composed by King Solomon:
The Girl:
*
2
“Kiss me again and again, for your love is sweeter than wine.
3
How fragrant your cologne, and how great your name! No wonder all the young girls love you!
4
Take me with you; come, let’s run!”
The Girl:
“The king has brought me into his palace. How happy we will be! Your love is better than wine. No wonder all the young girls love you!”
The Girl:
5
“I am dark but beautiful, O girls of Jerusalem, tanned as the dark tents of Kedar.”
King Solomon:
“But lovely as the silken tents of Solomon!”
The Girl:
6
“Don’t look down on me, you city girls,
*
just because my complexion is so dark—the sun has tanned me. My brothers were angry with me and sent me out into the sun to tend the vineyards, but see what it has done to me!”
The Girl:
7
“Tell me, O one I love, where are you leading your flock today? Where will you be at noon? For I will come and join you there instead of wandering like a vagabond among the flocks of your companions.”
King Solomon:
8
“If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman in all the world, follow the trail of my flock to the shepherds’ tents, and there feed your sheep and their lambs.
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What a lovely filly you are,
*
my love!
10
How lovely your cheeks are, with your hair
*
falling down upon them! How stately your neck with that long string of jewels.
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We shall make you gold earrings and silver beads.”
The Girl:
12
“The king lies on his bed, enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume.
13
My beloved one is a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts.”
King Solomon:
14
“My beloved is a bouquet of flowers in the gardens of Engedi.
15
How beautiful you are, my love, how beautiful! Your eyes are soft as doves’.
16
What a lovely, pleasant thing you are, lying here upon the grass,
17
shaded by the cedar trees and firs.”
2:
1
The Girl:
“I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley.”
King Solomon:
2
“Yes, a lily among thorns, so is my beloved as compared with any other girls.”
The Girl:
3
“My lover is an apple tree, the finest in the orchard as compared with any of the other youths. I am seated in his much-desired shade and his fruit is lovely to eat.
4
He brings me to the banquet hall, and everyone can see how much he loves me.
5
Oh, feed me with your love—your ‘raisins’ and your ‘apples’—for I am utterly lovesick.
6
His left hand is under my head and with his right hand he embraces me.
7
O girls of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and deer in the park, that you do not awaken my lover.
*
Let him sleep!”
The Girl:
8
“Ah, I hear him—my beloved! Here he comes, leaping upon the mountains and bounding over the hills.
9
My beloved is like a gazelle or young deer. Look, there he is behind the wall, now looking in at the windows.
10
“My beloved said to me, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
11
For the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
12
The flowers are springing up and the time of the singing of birds has come. Yes, spring is here.
*
13
The leaves are coming out,
*
and the grapevines are in blossom. How delicious they smell! Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.’
14
“My dove is hiding behind some rocks, behind an outcrop of the cliff. Call to me and let me hear your lovely voice and see your handsome face.
15
“The little foxes are ruining the vineyards. Catch them, for the grapes are all in blossom.
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“My beloved is mine and I am his. He is feeding among the lilies!
17
Before the dawn comes and the shadows flee away, come to me, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.”
3:
1
The Girl:
“One night my lover was missing from my bed. I got up to look for him but couldn’t find him.
2
I went out into the streets of the city and the roads to seek him, but I searched in vain.
3
The police stopped me, and I said to them, ‘Have you seen him anywhere, this one I love so much?’
4
It was only a little while afterwards that I found him and held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my childhood home, into my mother’s old bedroom.
5
I adjure you, O women of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and deer of the park, not to awake my lover. Let him sleep.”
The Young Women of Jerusalem:
6
“Who is this sweeping in from the deserts like a cloud of smoke along the ground, smelling of myrrh and frankincense and every other spice that can be bought?
7
Look, it is the chariot
*
of Solomon with sixty of the mightiest men of his army surrounding it.
8
They are all skilled swordsmen and experienced bodyguards. Each one has his sword upon his thigh to defend his king against any onslaught in the night.
9
For King Solomon made himself a chariot from the wood of Lebanon.
10
Its posts are silver, its canopy gold, the seat is purple; and the back is inlaid with these words: ‘With love from the girls of Jerusalem!’”
The Girl:
11
“Go out and see King Solomon, O young women of Zion; see the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, his day of gladness.”
4:
1
King Solomon:
“How beautiful you are, my love, how beautiful! Your eyes are those of doves. Your hair falls across your face like flocks of goats that frisk across the slopes of Gilead.
2
Your teeth are white as sheep’s wool, newly shorn and washed; perfectly matched, without one missing.
3
Your lips are like a thread of scarlet—and how beautiful your mouth. Your cheeks are matched loveliness
*
behind your locks.
4
Your neck is stately
*
as the tower of David, jeweled with a thousand heroes’ shields.
5
Your breasts are like twin fawns of a gazelle, feeding among the lilies.
6
Until the morning dawns and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.
7
You are so beautiful, my love, in every part of you.
8
“Come with me from Lebanon, my bride. We will look down from the summit of the mountain, from the top of Mount Hermon,
*
where the lions have their dens and panthers prowl.
9
You have ravished my heart, my lovely one, my bride; I am overcome by one glance of your eyes, by a single bead of your necklace.
10
How sweet is your love, my darling, my bride. How much better it is than mere wine. The perfume of your love is more fragrant than all the richest spices.
11
Your lips, my dear, are made of honey. Yes, honey and cream are under your tongue, and the scent of your garments is like the scent of the mountains and cedars of Lebanon.
12
“My darling bride is like a private garden, a spring that no one else can have, a fountain of my own.
13-14
You are like a lovely orchard bearing precious fruit,
*
with the rarest of perfumes; nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, and perfume from every other incense tree, as well as myrrh and aloes, and every other lovely spice.
15
You are a garden fountain, a well of living water, refreshing as the streams from the Lebanon mountains.”
The Girl:
16
“Come, north wind, awaken; come, south wind, blow upon my garden and waft its lovely perfume to my beloved. Let him come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits.”
I am thankful to God that he has given Titus the same real concern for you that I have.
17
He is glad to follow my suggestion that he visit you again—but I think he would have come anyway, for he is very eager to see you!
18
I am sending another well-known brother with him, who is highly praised as a preacher of the Good News in all the churches.
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In fact, this man was elected by the churches to travel with me to take the gift to Jerusalem. This will glorify the Lord and show our eagerness to help each other.
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By traveling together we will guard against any suspicion, for we are anxious that no one should find fault with the way we are handling this large gift.
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God knows we are honest, but I want everyone else to know it too. That is why we have made this arrangement.
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And I am sending you still another brother, whom we know from experience to be an earnest Christian. He is especially interested as he looks forward to this trip because I have told him all about your eagerness to help.
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If anyone asks who Titus is, say that he is my partner, my helper in helping you, and you can also say that the other two brothers represent the assemblies here and are splendid examples of those who belong to the Lord.
24
Please show your love for me to these men and do for them all that I have publicly boasted you would.
The mighty God, the Lord, has summoned all mankind from east to west!
2
God’s glory-light shines from the beautiful Temple
*
on Mount Zion.
3
He comes with the noise of thunder,
*
surrounded by devastating fire; a great storm rages round about him.
4
He has come to judge his people. To heaven and earth he shouts,
5
“Gather together my own people who by their sacrifice upon my altar have promised to obey me.”
*
6
God will judge them with complete fairness, for all heaven declares that he is just.
7
O my people, listen! For I am your God. Listen! Here are my charges against you:
8
I have no complaint about the sacrifices you bring to my altar, for you bring them regularly.
9
But it isn’t sacrificial bullocks and goats that I really want from you.
10-11
For all the animals of field and forest are mine! The cattle on a thousand hills! And all the birds upon the mountains!
12
If I were hungry, I would not mention it to you—for all the world is mine and everything in it.
13
No, I don’t need your sacrifices of flesh and blood.
14-15
What I want from you is your true thanks; I want your promises fulfilled.
I want you to trust me in your times of trouble, so I can rescue you and you can give me glory.
16
But God says to evil men: Recite my laws no longer and stop claiming my promises,
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for you have refused my discipline, disregarding my laws.
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You see a thief and help him, and spend your time with evil and immoral men.
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You curse and lie, and vile language streams from your mouths.
20
You slander your own brother.
21
I remained silent—you thought I didn’t care—but now your time of punishment has come, and I list all the above charges against you.
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This is the last chance for all of you who have forgotten God, before I tear you apart—and no one can help you then.
23
But true praise is a worthy sacrifice; this really honors me. Those who walk my paths will receive salvation from the Lord.
Don’t rob the poor and sick! For the Lord is their defender. If you injure them, he will punish you.
September 7King Solomon:
“I am here in my garden, my darling, my bride! I gather my myrrh with my spices and eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink my wine with my milk.”
The Young Women of Jerusalem:
“Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink! Yes, drink deeply!”
The Girl:
2
“One night as I was sleeping, my heart awakened in a dream. I heard the voice of my beloved; he was knocking at my bedroom door. ‘Open to me, my darling, my lover, my lovely dove,’ he said, ‘for I have been out in the night and am covered with dew.’
3
“But I said, ‘I have disrobed. Shall I get dressed again? I have washed my feet, and should I get them soiled?’
4
“My beloved tried to unlatch the door, and my heart was thrilled within me.
5
I jumped up to open it, and my hands dripped with perfume, my fingers with lovely myrrh as I pulled back the bolt.
6
I opened to my beloved, but he was gone. My heart stopped. I searched for him but couldn’t find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply.
7
The guards found me and struck and wounded me. The watchman on the wall tore off my veil.
8
I adjure you, O women of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved one, tell him that I am sick with love.”
The Young Women of Jerusalem:
9
“O woman of rare beauty, what is it about your loved one that is better than any other, that you command us this?”
The Girl:
10
“My beloved one is tanned and handsome, better than ten thousand others!
11
His head is purest gold, and he has wavy, raven hair.
12
His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, deep and quiet.
13
His cheeks are like sweetly scented beds of spices. His lips are perfumed lilies, his breath like myrrh.
14
His arms are round bars of gold set with topaz; his body is bright ivory encrusted with jewels.
15
His legs are as pillars of marble set in sockets of finest gold, like cedars of Lebanon; none can rival him.
16
His mouth is altogether sweet, lovable in every way. Such, O women of Jerusalem, is my beloved, my friend.”
6:
1
The Young Women of Jerusalem:
“O rarest of beautiful women, where has your loved one gone? We will help you find him.”
The Girl:
2
“He has gone down to his garden, to his spice beds, to pasture his flock and to gather the lilies.
3
I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. He pastures his flock among the lilies!”
King Solomon:
4
“O my beloved, you are as beautiful as the lovely land of Tirzah, yes, beautiful as Jerusalem, and how you capture my heart.
*
5
Look the other way, for your eyes have overcome me! Your hair, as it falls across your face, is like a flock of goats frisking down the slopes of Gilead.
6
Your teeth are white as freshly washed ewes, perfectly matched and not one missing.
7
Your cheeks are matched loveliness
*
behind your hair.
8
I have sixty other wives, all queens, and eighty concubines, and unnumbered virgins available to me;
9
but you, my dove, my perfect one, are the only one among them all, without an equal! The women of Jerusalem were delighted when they saw you, and even the queens and concubines praise you.
10
‘Who is this,’ they ask, ‘arising as the dawn, fair as the moon, pure as the sun, so utterly captivating?’”
*
The Girl:
11
“I went down into the orchard of nuts and out to the valley to see the springtime there, to see whether the grapevines were budding or the pomegranates were blossoming yet.
12
Before I realized it, I was stricken with terrible homesickness and wanted to be back among my own people.”
*
The Young Women of Jerusalem:
13
“Return, return to us, O maid of Shulam. Come back, come back, that we may see you once again.”
The Girl:
“Why should you seek a mere Shulammite?”
King Solomon:
“Because you dance so beautifully.”
*
7:
1
King Solomon:
“How beautiful your tripping feet, O queenly maiden. Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of the most skilled of craftsmen.
2
Your navel is lovely as a goblet filled with wine. Your waist
*
is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.
3
Your two breasts are like two fawns, yes, lovely twins.
*
4
Your neck is stately as an ivory tower, your eyes as limpid pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is shapely
*
like the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus.
5
“As Mount Carmel crowns the mountains, so your hair is your crown. The king is held captive in your queenly tresses.
6
“Oh, how delightful you are; how pleasant, O love, for utter delight!
7
You are tall and slim like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters of dates.
8
I said, I will climb up into the palm tree and take hold of its branches. Now may your breasts be like grape clusters, the scent of your breath like apples,
9
and your kisses as exciting as the best of wine, smooth and sweet, causing the lips of those who are asleep to speak.”
The Girl:
10
“I am my beloved’s and I am the one he desires.
11
Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and stay in the villages.
12
Let us get up early and go out to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the blossoms have opened, and whether the pomegranates are in flower. And there I will give you my love.
13
There the mandrakes give forth their fragrance, and the rarest fruits are at our doors, the new as well as old, for I have stored them up for my beloved.”
8:
1
The Girl:
“Oh, if only you were my brother; then I could kiss you no matter who was watching, and no one would laugh at me.
2
I would bring you to my childhood home,
*
and there you would teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, sweet pomegranate wine.
3
His left hand would be under my head and his right hand would embrace me.
4
I adjure you, O women of Jerusalem, not to awaken him until he pleases.”
The Young Women of Jerusalem:
5
“Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her beloved?”
King Solomon:
“Under the apple tree where your mother gave birth to you in her travail, there I awakened your love.”
The Girl:
6
“Seal me in your heart with permanent betrothal, for love is strong as death, and jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. It flashes fire, the very flame of Jehovah.
7
Many waters cannot quench the flame of love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man tried to buy it with everything he owned, he couldn’t do it.”
The Girl’s Brothers:
8
“We have a little sister too young for breasts. What shall we do if someone asks to marry her?”
King Solomon:
9
“If she has no breasts,
*
we will build upon her a battlement of silver, and if she is a door, we will enclose her with cedar boards.”
The Girl:
10
“I am slim, tall,
*
and full-breasted, and I have found favor in my lover’s eyes.
11
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon, which he rented out to some farmers there, the rent being one thousand pieces of silver from each.
12
But as for my own vineyard, you, O Solomon, shall have my thousand pieces of silver, and I will give two hundred pieces to those who care for it.
13
O my beloved, living in the gardens, how wonderful that your companions may listen to your voice; let me hear it too.
14
Come quickly, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or young deer upon the mountains of spices.”
I realize that I really don’t even need to mention this to you, about helping God’s people.
2
For I know how eager you are to do it, and I have boasted to the friends in Macedonia that you were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was this enthusiasm of yours that stirred up many of them to begin helping.
3
But I am sending these men just to be sure that you really are ready, as I told them you would be, with your money all collected; I don’t want it to turn out that this time I was wrong in my boasting about you.
4
I would be very much ashamed—and so would you—if some of these Macedonian people come with me, only to find that you still aren’t ready after all I have told them!
5
So I have asked these other brothers to arrive ahead of me to see that the gift you promised is on hand and waiting. I want it to be a real gift and not look as if it were being given under pressure.
6
But remember this—if you give little, you will get little. A farmer who plants just a few seeds will get only a small crop, but if he plants much, he will reap much.
7
Everyone must make up his own mind as to how much he should give. Don’t force anyone to give more than he really wants to, for cheerful givers are the ones God prizes.
8
God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others.
9
It is as the Scriptures say: “The godly man gives generously to the poor. His good deeds will be an honor to him forever.”
10
For God, who gives seed to the farmer to plant, and later on good crops to harvest and eat, will give you more and more seed to plant and will make it grow so that you can give away more and more fruit from your harvest.
11
Yes, God will give you much so that you can give away much, and when we take your gifts to those who need them they will break out into thanksgiving and praise to God for your help.
12
So two good things happen as a result of your gifts—those in need are helped, and they overflow with thanks to God.
13
Those you help will be glad not only because of your generous gifts to themselves and to others, but they will praise God for this proof that your deeds are as good as your doctrine.
14
And they will pray for you with deep fervor and feeling because of the wonderful grace of God shown through you.
15
Thank God for his Son—his Gift too wonderful for words.
Written after Nathan the prophet had come to inform David of God’s judgment against him because of his adultery with Bathsheba, and his murder of Uriah, her husband.
O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions.
2
Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again.
3
For I admit my shameful deed—it haunts me day and night.
4
It is against you and you alone I sinned and did this terrible thing. You saw it all, and your sentence against me is just.
5
But I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6
You deserve honesty from the heart; yes, utter sincerity and truthfulness. Oh, give me this wisdom.
7
Sprinkle me with the cleansing blood
*
and I shall be clean again. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
8
And after you have punished me, give me back my joy again.
9
Don’t keep looking at my sins—erase them from your sight.
10
Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires.
11
Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
12
Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
13
Then I will teach your ways to other sinners, and they—guilty like me—will repent and return to you.
14-15
Don’t sentence me to death. O my God, you alone can rescue me. Then I will sing of your forgiveness,
*
for my lips will be unsealed—oh, how I will praise you.
16
You don’t want penance;
*
if you did, how gladly I would do it! You aren’t interested in offerings burned before you on the altar.
17
It is a broken spirit you want—remorse and penitence. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not ignore.
18
And Lord, don’t punish Israel for my sins—help your people and protect Jerusalem.
*
19
And when my heart is right,
*
then you will rejoice in the good that I do and in the bullocks I bring to sacrifice upon your altar.