The Daily Audio Bible
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The young man:
5 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride.
I have taken my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey.
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
The writer:
Eat, friends, and drink, you who love each other!
Drink until you can drink no more![a]
A dream
The young woman:
2 I slept but my mind was awake.[b]
Listen! My lover is knocking on my door!
He said, ‘Open the door for me, my dear friend.
You are my sister,
the perfect one that I love.
To me you are like a beautiful dove.
Dew from the night air covers my head.
My hair is very wet.’
3 I said, ‘I have taken off my day clothes.
I do not want to dress myself again.
I have washed my feet.
I do not want them to get dirty again.’
4 My lover pushed his hand through the hole in the door.
My heart began to beat faster because he was near.
5 I got up to open the door for my lover.
My hands were wet with myrrh.
Myrrh dropped from my fingers
onto the handle of the door.
6 I opened the door for my lover.
But he had already turned away.
He had gone!
I was very upset that he had gone away.
I looked for him but I did not find him.
I called to him but he did not answer me.
7 The city guards found me
as they walked in the streets of the city.
They beat me and they hurt my body.
Those guards on the city walls took away my robe.
8 Young women of Jerusalem,
please find my lover!
Promise me to tell him this, if you find him.
Tell him that my love for him has made me weak!
The young women of Jerusalem:
9 Tell us this, most beautiful of all women.
Why do you think that your lover is better than other men?
Why must we promise to do this for you?
The young woman:
10 My lover is very handsome and healthy.
He is the greatest man among 10,000 men.
11 His head is like very pure gold.
The hairs on his head are like waves.
They are black like a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves beside streams of water.
They are like doves that someone has washed in milk.
They shine like jewels.
13 The sides of his face are like a garden with spice trees.
Their smell is like perfume.
His lips are like lilies
with myrrh that falls from them.
14 His arms are like bars of gold
with jewels in them.
His body shines like bright ivory,
with sapphire jewels to make it more beautiful.
15 His legs are like pillars of beautiful stone.
They stand on feet that are like pure gold.
He stands tall like the mountains of Lebanon.
He is as handsome as its best cedar trees.
16 The taste of his mouth is very sweet.
Everything about him causes me to love him.
I say to you, young women of Jerusalem,
this is my lover!
This is my true friend.
The young women of Jerusalem:
6 Tell us this, most beautiful of all women.
Where has your lover gone?
Which way did he go?
Tell us, so that we can look for him with you.
The young woman:
2 My lover has gone down to his garden.
He has gone to his garden of spice trees.
He has gone there to walk in the gardens
and to pick lilies.
3 My lover belongs to me,
and I belong to him.
He moves among the lilies with his sheep.
The young man:
4 My dear friend, you are as beautiful as Tirzah.
You are as lovely as Jerusalem.[c]
You are as wonderful as an army that is waving its flags.[d]
5 Turn your eyes away from me.
They give me pleasure that is too strong for me!
Your hair is like a group of goats
that are coming down from Mount Gilead.
6 Your teeth are very white
like a group of clean sheep that is coming from the pool of water.
Each tooth is one of a pair.
Not one of them is alone.
7 The sides of your face are beautiful,
like the halves of a pomegranate.
I see them through your veil.
8 A king may have 60 queens.
He may have 80 slave wives.
He may have many other young women too.
There may be too many for him to count![e]
9 But there is only one woman that I want.
Nobody is like her in any way.
She is my perfect one, as lovely as a dove.
She is the special daughter of her mother.
Her mother loves her best among all her children.
The young women saw her and they praised her.
The queens and the slave wives also praised her.
10 They said, ‘She is like the light that appears at dawn.
She is as beautiful as the moon.
She is as bright as the sun.
She is as wonderful as the stars that shine brightly in their places.’
11 I went down to the garden of walnut trees.[f]
I wanted to see the new plants that were growing in the valley;
to see if the vines had new leaves now;
to see if the pomegranate trees had flowers.
12 I became so happy
that I did not understand what was happening.
I knew that I wanted to be with her.
I felt that I was riding with the king's men in their chariots.
The young women of Jerusalem:
13 Come back, come back, young woman from Shulam![g]
Yes, come back,
so that we can look at you again.
The young man:
Why do you want to look at the young woman from Shulam?
Do not look at her as if she is dancing the dance of Mahanaim.[h]
A beautiful woman
The young man:
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
my princess![i]
Your round hips are as beautiful as jewels
that a clever worker has made.[j]
2 Your navel is like a round bowl
that is always full of good wine.[k]
Your stomach is like a round heap of wheat
with lilies around the edge.
3 Your breasts are like two young gazelles
that are twins.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes shine like the pools in Heshbon
that are near the Bath Rabbim gate.[l]
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
that looks towards Damascus.[m]
5 Your head stands tall on you, like Mount Carmel.[n]
Your long hair hangs down like a royal cloth.
It is so beautiful that it can make the king its prisoner!
6 You are very beautiful, my dear friend,
and I love you.
You give a lot of pleasure to me.
7 You stand like a tall palm tree.
Your breasts are like bunches of fruit that hang from the tree.[o]
8 I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree.
I will take hold of its fruit.’
For me, your breasts are like bunches of grapes.
Your breath is like the sweet smell of apples.
9 For me, your mouth has the taste of the best wine.
The young woman:
May the wine pour out for my lover.
May it pour over his lips and his teeth.
10 I belong to my lover,
and he wants to be with me!
11 Come with me now, my lover!
Let us go and walk through the fields.
We can stay in the villages for the night.
12 We can get up early in the morning
and go to the vineyards.
We can see if the vines have started to make new leaves.
We can see if their flowers have opened.
We can see if the pomegranate trees have flowers.
When we are there
I will give my love to you.
13 The mandrake plants send out their sweet smell.
At our door, there are many good things to eat.[p]
I have stored many good things that are both old and new.
I have kept them all for you, my lover.
The young woman:
8 I would like it if you were my brother
who drank milk from my mother's breasts!
If you were my brother,
if I found you outside, I could kiss you.
Nobody would think that I was doing something wrong.
2 I would lead you to my mother's house.
She is the one who has taught me.
I would give you wine with spices to drink,
the juice from my pomegranates.
3 His left hand is under my head.
His right hand brings me near to him.
4 Promise this to me, young women of Jerusalem:
Do not cause our love to wake up.
Do not cause it to become too strong
until the time is right.
The young women of Jerusalem:
5 Who is this who is coming from the desert?
Her head is on her lover's shoulder.
The young woman:
Under the apple tree,
I caused your love to wake.
That is the place where your mother became pregnant.
In that place too, your mother gave birth to you in pain.
6 Keep me near to you, like a seal over your heart.[q]
Keep me like a seal on your arm.
Keep me there always,
because love is as powerful as death.
It keeps hold of people as strongly as the grave does.
Love burns like a hot fire.
It burns with bright flames.
7 Even a flood of water cannot stop the flames.
Rivers of water cannot carry it away.
A man might try to give all his riches
to buy a woman's love.
But she would refuse to accept what he offers to her.
The young woman's brothers:
8 We have a younger sister.
Her breasts have not yet grown.
What will we do to help her
when it is the time for her to marry?
9 If she is a wall,
we will use silver to build towers on her.
But if she is a door,
we will use boards of cedar wood to keep the door shut.
The young woman:
10 I am a wall.
My breasts are like strong towers.
So my lover is happy when he looks at me.
11 King Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon.
He allowed other people to take care of it.
They each paid him 1,000 silver coins for its fruit.
12 But my own vineyard belongs to me alone.
I take care of it myself.
You may keep the 1,000 silver coins, Solomon.
And I will give 200 silver coins to those who take care of the fruit.
The young man:
13 You have been staying in the garden
with your friends who are listening to you.
Let me too hear your voice!
The young woman:
14 Come quickly to me now, my lover!
Run like a gazelle or a young deer.
Come to the mountains that have sweet spices!
9 I do not need to write to you about the money that you want to send to God's people in Jerusalem. 2 I know that you want to help very much. I have told the believers in Macedonia how good you are. I tell them that you believers in Achaia have been ready to give your money since last year. Because you are so ready to help, most of them now also want to help. 3 But I do not want the way that I have praised you not to be true. So I am sending these men, our Christian friends, to come to you. I want to be sure that you will be ready to give your money. That is what I have told people about you.
4 Perhaps some believers from Macedonia might come with me. If you are not ready when we come, we would be ashamed. We would be ashamed because we trusted you. And I think that you would be ashamed as well! 5 So I decided to tell these men to visit you before I come myself. They will help you to prepare the gift that you promised. Then it will be ready when I arrive. Everyone will know that you really wanted to give this gift. Nobody has made you give it.
It is good to give as much as you can
6 Remember this: If a farmer plants only a few seeds, he will not get much as a result. But if he plants plenty of seeds, he will get a big harvest. 7 Each of you should think carefully and then decide how much you can give. Then you will not be sad to give that money. Nobody has made you give it. God loves someone who is happy to give help to other people.
8 Since God loves you, he is able to give you more than you need. You will always have every good thing that you need for yourselves. And you will have enough to do many good things to help other people. 9 The Bible says this about someone who helps other people:
‘He has shared his things with many poor people.
God will always remember how kind that person has been.’[a]
10 It is God who supplies seeds for the farmer to plant. It is God who supplies bread for food. God will help you in the same way. He will give you plenty of things so that you can help other people. You will be like a farmer who plants many seeds. And God will cause those seeds to grow. There will be many good results from the help that you give to other people. That will be like a great harvest. 11 God will make you rich with many good things. As a result, you will always be able to give plenty to other people. Many people will thank God because of your gifts that we take to them.
12 This good work that you are doing is helping God's people. It is helping to supply what they need. And it is not only doing that. It is also causing many people to thank God very much. 13 Your gift of money will show people that you really want to help. People will say that God is great. They will see that you want to obey God. They will see that you are happy to give to them, and to everyone else. They will see that you really believe the good news about Christ, as you say you do. 14 They will want to thank you. They will pray to God for you. They will do that because they see how very kind God has been to you.
15 Yes, we should all thank God for his very great gift.[b] That gift is too great to describe it with words!
David wrote this psalm for the music leader.
It was when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had sex with Bathsheba.
Please forgive me, Lord[a]
51 Please forgive me, God,
because of your faithful love.
Because you are so kind,
please clean away my sins.
2 I have done bad things,
so wash me to make me clean again.[b]
3 I know that I have not obeyed you.
I cannot forget that I am guilty.
4 It is you that I have done bad things against,
only you![c]
I have done things that are evil,
as you know.
And so you are fair when you speak against me.
You are right when you say that I am guilty.
5 Yes, even from the day I was born
I have done bad things.
I have always been guilty of sin.
6 But you want me to be completely good and honest.
You want to teach me to be wise
in the way that I live.
7 Splash water over me with a hyssop plant,
and I will be really clean.[d]
Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.[e]
8 Please forgive me so that I can be happy.
Then my whole body will feel well again.
9 Hide your face from my sins.
Clean away all the bad things that I have done.[f]
10 God, please make my heart new and clean.
And make my spirit strong and true,
deep inside me.
11 Do not send me away from you.
Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.
12 Give me joy again,
because you have made me safe.
Make me strong and ready to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways
to people who have turned against you.
Then sinners will turn back
and they will obey you.
14 God, I am guilty of murder.
Please forgive me!
You are the one who saves me.
When you rescue me,
I will sing aloud about your righteousness.
15 My Lord, help me to speak,
and then I will praise you.
16 I would be happy to offer sacrifices to you,
but that is not what you really want.
You do not want a burnt offering from me.
17 You want me to be humble and sorry.
That is the sacrifice that you want.
When people are humble
and they turn away from their sins,
you will not refuse them.
18 God, please be kind and help Zion.
Make the walls of Jerusalem strong again.
19 Then you will accept our proper sacrifices.
Our burnt offerings and sacrifices of whole animals
will make you happy.
Once again, people will offer bulls to you,
on your altar.[g]
24 2. Do not become a friend of angry people. Keep away from them. 25 You might become angry, like them. Then you would spoil your whole life.
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