The Daily Audio Bible

5 I have come into my garden, my sister, my [promised] bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam and spice [from your sweet words I have gathered the richest perfumes and spices]. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends [feast on, O revelers of the palace; you can never make my lover disloyal to me]! Drink, yes, drink abundantly of love, O precious one [for now I know you are mine, irrevocably mine! With his confident words still thrilling her heart, through the lattice she saw her shepherd turn away and disappear into the night].^(A)

² I went to sleep, but my heart stayed awake. [I dreamed that I heard] the voice of my beloved as he knocked [at the door of my mother’s cottage]. Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my spotless one [he said], for I am wet with the [heavy] night dew; my hair is covered with it.^(B)

³ [But weary from a day in the vineyards, I had already sought my rest] I had put off my garment—^[a]how could I [again] put it on? I had washed my feet—how could I [again] soil them?^(C)

⁴ My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for him.

⁵ I rose up to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with liquid [sweet-scented] myrrh, [which he had left] upon the handles of the bolt.

⁶ I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and withdrawn himself, and was gone! My soul went forth [to him] when he spoke, but it failed me [and now he was gone]! I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

⁷ The watchmen who go about the city found me. They struck me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took my veil and my mantle from me.

⁸ I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am sick from love [simply sick to be with him].^(D)

⁹ What is your beloved more than another beloved, O you fairest among women [taunted the ladies]? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you should give us such a charge?^(E)

¹⁰ [She said] My beloved is fair and ruddy, the chief among ten thousand!^(F)

¹¹ His head is [as precious as] the finest gold; his locks are curly and bushy and black as a raven.

¹² His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, bathed in milk and fitly set.

¹³ His cheeks are like a bed of spices or balsam, like banks of sweet herbs yielding fragrance. His lips are like bloodred anemones or lilies distilling liquid [sweet-scented] myrrh.

¹⁴ His hands are like rods of gold set with [nails of] beryl or topaz. His body is a figure of bright ivory overlaid with [veins of] sapphires.

¹⁵ His legs are like strong and steady pillars of marble set upon bases of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent, stately, and majestic as the cedars.

¹⁶ His voice and speech are exceedingly sweet; yes, he is altogether lovely [the whole of him delights and is precious]. ^[b]This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!^(G)

6 Where has your beloved gone, O you fairest among women? [Again the ladies showed their interest in the remarkable person whom the Shulammite had championed with such unstinted praise; they too wanted to know him, they insisted.] Where is your beloved hiding himself? For we would seek him with you.

² [She replied] My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies.

³ I am my beloved’s [garden] and my beloved is mine! He feeds among the lilies [which grow there].

⁴ [He said] You are as beautiful as Tirzah [capital of the northern kingdom’s first king], my love, and as comely as Jerusalem, [but you are] as terrible as a bannered host!

⁵ Turn away your [flashing] eyes from me, for they have overcome me! Your hair is like a flock of goats trailing down from Mount Gilead.

⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of ewes coming from their washing, of which all are in pairs, and not one of them is missing.

⁷ Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

⁸ There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number;

⁹ But my dove, my undefiled and perfect one, stands alone [above them all]; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her and called her blessed and happy, yes, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.^(H)

¹⁰ [The ladies asked] Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, clear and pure as the sun, and terrible as a bannered host?

¹¹ [The Shulammite replied] I went down into the nut orchard [one day] to look at the green plants of the valley, to see whether the grapevine had budded and the pomegranates were in flower.

¹² Before I was aware [of what was happening], my desire [to roam about] had brought me into the area of the princes of my people [the king’s retinue].

¹³ [I began to flee, but they called to me] Return, return, O Shulammite; return, return, that we may look upon you! [I replied] What is there for you to see in the [poor little] Shulammite? [And they answered] As upon a dance before two armies or a dance of Mahanaim.

7 [Then her companions began noticing and commenting on the attractiveness of her person] How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden! Your rounded limbs are like jeweled chains, the work of a master hand.

² Your body is like a round goblet in which no mixed wine is wanting. Your abdomen is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.

³ Your two breasts are like two fawns, the twins of a gazelle.

⁴ Your neck is like a tower of ivory, your eyes like the pools of 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 like purple. [Then seeing the king watching the girl in absorbed admiration, the speaker added] The king is held captive by its tresses.

⁶ [The king came forward, saying] How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, with your delights!

⁷ Your stature is like that of a palm tree, and your bosom like its clusters [of dates, declared the king].

⁸ I resolve that I will climb the palm tree; I will grasp its branches. Let your breasts be like clusters of the grapevine, and the scent of your breath like apples,

⁹ And your kisses like the best wine—[then the Shulammite interrupted] that goes down smoothly and sweetly for my beloved [shepherd, kisses] gliding over his lips while he sleeps!

¹⁰ [She proudly said] I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me!^(I)

¹¹ [She said] Come, my beloved! Let us go forth into the field, let us lodge in the villages.^(J)

¹² Let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened, and whether the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

¹³ The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and over our doors are all manner of choice fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved!

8 [Looking forward to the shepherd’s arrival, the eager girl pictures their meeting and says] Oh, that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I should find you without, I would kiss you, yes, and none would despise me [for it].^(K)

² I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, who would instruct me. I would cause you to drink spiced wine and of the juice of my pomegranates.

³ [Then musingly she added] Oh, that his left hand were under my head and that his right hand embraced me!^(L)

⁴ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you never [again attempt to] stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

⁵ Who is this who comes up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved? [And as they sighted the home of her childhood, the bride said] Under the apple tree I awakened you; there your mother gave you birth, there she was in travail and bore you.

⁶ Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as hard and cruel as Sheol (the place of the dead). Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame [the very flame of the Lord]!^(M)

⁷ Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would offer all the goods of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned and despised.

⁸ [Gathered with her family and the wedding guests in her mother’s cottage, the bride said to her stepbrothers, When I was a little girl, you said] We have a little sister and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for in marriage?

⁹ If she is a wall [discreet and womanly], we will build upon her a turret [a dowry] of silver; but if she is a door [bold and flirtatious], we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

¹⁰ [Well] I am a wall [with battlements], and my breasts are like the towers of it. Then was I in [the king’s] eyes as one [to be respected and to be allowed] to find peace.

¹¹ Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; everyone was to bring him a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit.

¹² You, O Solomon, can have your thousand [pieces of silver], and those who tend the fruit of it two hundred; but my vineyard, which is mine [with all its radiant joy], is before me!

¹³ O you who dwell in the gardens, your companions have been listening to your voice—now cause me to hear it.

¹⁴ [Joyfully the radiant bride turned to him, the one altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand to her soul, and with unconcealed eagerness to begin her life of sweet companionship with him, she answered] Make haste, my beloved, and come quickly, like a gazelle or a young hart [and take me to our waiting home] upon the mountains of spices!

9 Now about the offering that is [to be made] for the saints (God’s people in Jerusalem), it is quite superfluous that I should write you;

² For I am well acquainted with your willingness (your readiness and your eagerness to promote it) and I have proudly told about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia (most of Greece) has been prepared since last year for this contribution; and [consequently] your enthusiasm has stimulated the majority of them.

³ Still, I am sending the brethren [on to you], lest our pride in you should be made an empty boast in this particular case, and so that you may be all ready, as I told them you would be;

⁴ Lest, if [any] Macedonians should come with me and find you unprepared [for this generosity], we, to say nothing of yourselves, be humiliated for our being so confident.

⁵ That is why I thought it necessary to urge these brethren to go to you before I do and make arrangements in advance for this bountiful, promised gift of yours, so that it may be ready, not as an extortion [wrung out of you] but as a generous and willing gift.

⁶ [Remember] this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously [^[a]that blessings may come to someone] will also reap generously and with blessings.

⁷ Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He ^[b]takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, “prompt to do it”) giver [whose heart is in his giving].^(A)

⁸ And God is able to make all grace (every favor and ^[c]earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need ^[d]be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].

⁹ As it is written, He [the benevolent person] scatters abroad; He gives to the poor; His deeds of justice and goodness and kindness and benevolence will go on and endure forever!^(B)

¹⁰ And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [^[e]which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity].^(C)

¹¹ Thus you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous, and [your generosity as it is] administered by us will bring forth thanksgiving to God.

¹² For the service that the ministering of this fund renders does not only fully supply what is lacking to the saints (God’s people), but it also overflows in many [cries of] thanksgiving to God.

¹³ Because at [your] standing of the test of this ministry, they will glorify God for your loyalty and obedience to the Gospel of Christ which you confess, as well as for your generous-hearted liberality to them and to all [the other needy ones].

¹⁴ And they yearn for you while they pray for you, because of the surpassing measure of God’s grace (His favor and mercy and spiritual blessing which is shown forth) in you.

¹⁵ Now thanks be to God for His Gift, [precious] beyond telling [His indescribable, inexpressible, free Gift]!

Psalm 51

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions.

² Wash me thoroughly [and repeatedly] from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin!

³ For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me.

⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgment.^(A)

⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in [a state of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful].^(B)

⁶ Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart.

⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow.

⁸ Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

⁹ Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹ Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

¹³ Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted and return to You.

¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness and death, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness (Your rightness and Your justice).

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

¹⁶ For You delight not in sacrifice, or else would I give it; You find no pleasure in burnt offering.^(C)

¹⁷ My sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.

¹⁸ Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Then will You delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, justice, and right, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then bullocks will be offered upon Your altar.

²⁴ Make no friendships with a man given to anger, and with a wrathful man do not associate,

²⁵ Lest you learn his ways and get yourself into a snare.