September 26: Song of Solomon 5–8; Psalm 80; Acts 3

Old Testament: Song of Solomon 5–8 Song of Solomon 5–8 (Listen) He 5   I came to my garden, my sister, my bride,    I gathered my myrrh with my spice,    I ate my honeycomb with my honey,    I drank my wine with my milk. Others   Eat, friends, drink,    and be drunk with love! The Bride Searches for Her Beloved She 2   I slept, but my heart was awake.  A sound! My beloved is knocking.  “Open to me, my sister, my love,    my dove, my perfect one,  for my head is wet with dew,    my locks with the drops of the night.”3   I had put off my garment;    how could I put it on?  I had bathed my feet;    how could I soil them?4   My beloved put his hand to the latch,    and my heart was thrilled within me.5   I arose to open to my beloved,    and my hands dripped with myrrh,  my fingers with liquid myrrh,    on the handles of the bolt.6   I opened to my beloved,    but my beloved had turned and gone.  My soul failed me when he spoke.  I sought him, but found him not;    I called him, but he gave no answer.7   The watchmen found me    as they went about in the city;  they beat me, they bruised me,    they took away my veil,    those watchmen of the walls.8   I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,    if you find my beloved,  that you tell him    I am sick with love. Others 9   What is your beloved more than another beloved,    O most beautiful among women?  What is your beloved more than another beloved,    that you thus adjure us? The Bride Praises Her Beloved She 10   My beloved is radiant and ruddy,    distinguished among ten thousand.11   His head is the finest gold;    his locks are wavy,    black as a raven.12   His eyes are like doves    beside streams of water,  bathed in milk,    sitting beside a full pool.113   His cheeks are like beds of spices,    mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.  His lips are lilies,    dripping liquid myrrh.14   His arms are rods of gold,    set with jewels.  His body is polished ivory,2    bedecked with sapphires.315   His legs are alabaster columns,    set on bases of gold.  His appearance is like Lebanon,    choice as the cedars.16   His mouth4 is most sweet,    and he is altogether desirable.  This is my beloved and this is my friend,    O daughters of Jerusalem. Others 6   Where has your beloved gone,    O most beautiful among women?  Where has your beloved turned,    that we may seek him with you? Together in the Garden of Love She 2   My beloved has gone down to his garden    to the beds of spices,  to graze5 in the gardens    and to gather lilies.3   I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;    he grazes among the lilies. Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other He 4   You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,    lovely as Jerusalem,    awesome as an army with banners.5   Turn away your eyes from me,    for they overwhelm me—  Your hair is like a flock of goats    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.6   Your teeth are like a flock of ewes    that have come up from the washing;  all of them bear twins;    not one among them has lost its young.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   My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,    the only one of her mother,    pure to her who bore her.  The young women saw her and called her blessed;    the queens and concubines also, and they praised her. 10   “Who is this who looks down like the dawn,    beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,    awesome as an army with banners?” She 11   I went down to the nut orchard    to look at the blossoms of the valley,  to see whether the vines had budded,    whether the pomegranates were in bloom.12   Before I was aware, my desire set me    among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.6 Others 13   7 Return, return, O Shulammite,    return, return, that we may look upon you. He   Why should you look upon the Shulammite,    as upon a dance before two armies?8   7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,    O noble daughter!  Your rounded thighs are like jewels,    the work of a master hand.2   Your navel is a rounded bowl    that never lacks mixed wine.  Your belly is a heap of wheat,    encircled with lilies.3   Your two breasts are like two fawns,    twins of a gazelle.4   Your neck is like an ivory tower.  Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,    by the gate of Bath-rabbim.  Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,    which looks toward Damascus.5   Your head crowns you like Carmel,    and your flowing locks are like purple;    a king is held captive in the tresses. 6   How beautiful and pleasant you are,    O loved one, with all your delights!97   Your stature is like a palm tree,    and your breasts are like its clusters.8   I say I will climb the palm tree    and lay hold of its fruit.  Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,    and the scent of your breath like apples,9   and your mouth10 like the best wine. She   It goes down smoothly for my beloved,    gliding over lips and teeth.11 10   I am my beloved’s,    and his desire is for me. The Bride Gives Her Love 11   Come, my beloved,    let us go out into the fields    and lodge in the villages;1212   let us go out early to the vineyards    and see whether the vines have budded,  whether the grape blossoms have opened    and the pomegranates are in bloom.  There I will give you my love.13   The mandrakes give forth fragrance,    and beside our doors are all choice fruits,  new as well as old,    which I have laid up for you, O my beloved. Longing for Her Beloved 8   Oh that you were like a brother to me    who nursed at my mother’s breasts!  If I found you outside, I would kiss you,    and none would despise me.2   I would lead you and bring you    into the house of my mother—    she who used to teach me.  I would give you spiced wine to drink,    the juice of my pomegranate.3   His left hand is under my head,    and his right hand embraces me!4   I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,    that you not stir up or awaken love    until it pleases. 5   Who is that coming up from the wilderness,    leaning on her beloved?   Under the apple tree I awakened you.  There your mother was in labor with you;    there she who bore you was in labor. 6   Set me as a seal upon your heart,    as a seal upon your arm,  for love is strong as death,    jealousy13 is fierce as the grave.14  Its flashes are flashes of fire,    the very flame of the LORD.7   Many waters cannot quench love,    neither can floods drown it.  If a man offered for love    all the wealth of his house,    he15 would be utterly despised. Final Advice Others 8   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?9   If she is a wall,    we will build on her a battlement of silver,  but if she is a door,    we will enclose her with boards of cedar. She 10   I was a wall,    and my breasts were like towers;  then I was in his eyes    as one who finds16 peace. 11   Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;    he let out the vineyard to keepers;    each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.12   My vineyard, my very own, is before me;    you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,    and the keepers of the fruit two hundred. He 13   O you who dwell in the gardens,    with companions listening for your voice;    let me hear it. She 14   Make haste, my beloved,    and be like a gazelle  or a young stag    on the mountains of spices. Footnotes [1] 5:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain [2] 5:14 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain [3] 5:14 Hebrew lapis lazuli [4] 5:16 Hebrew palate [5] 6:2 Or to pasture his flock; also verse 3 [6] 6:12 Or chariots of Ammi-Nadib [7] 6:13 Ch 7:1 in Hebrew [8] 6:13 Or dance of Mahanaim [9] 7:6 Or among delights [10] 7:9 Hebrew palate [11] 7:9 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew causing the lips of sleepers to speak, or gliding over the lips of those who sleep [12] 7:11 Or among the henna plants [13] 8:6 Or ardor [14] 8:6 Hebrew as Sheol [15] 8:7 Or it [16] 8:10 Or brings out (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 80 Psalm 80 (Listen) Restore Us, O God To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm. 80   Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,    you who lead Joseph like a flock.  You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.2     Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,  stir up your might    and come to save us! 3   Restore us,1 O God;    let your face shine, that we may be saved! 4   O LORD God of hosts,    how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?5   You have fed them with the bread of tears    and given them tears to drink in full measure.6   You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,    and our enemies laugh among themselves. 7   Restore us, O God of hosts;    let your face shine, that we may be saved! 8   You brought a vine out of Egypt;    you drove out the nations and planted it.9   You cleared the ground for it;    it took deep root and filled the land.10   The mountains were covered with its shade,    the mighty cedars with its branches.11   It sent out its branches to the sea    and its shoots to the River.212   Why then have you broken down its walls,    so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?13   The boar from the forest ravages it,    and all that move in the field feed on it. 14   Turn again, O God of hosts!    Look down from heaven, and see;  have regard for this vine,15     the stock that your right hand planted,    and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.16   They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;    may they perish at the rebuke of your face!17   But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,    the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!18   Then we shall not turn back from you;    give us life, and we will call upon your name! 19   Restore us, O LORD God of hosts!    Let your face shine, that we may be saved! Footnotes [1] 80:3 Or Turn us again; also verses 7, 19 [2] 80:11 That is, the Euphrates (ESV) New Testament: Acts 3 Acts 3 (Listen) The Lame Beggar Healed 3 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.1 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Peter Speaks in Solomon’s Portico 11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant2 Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus3 has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. 17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” Footnotes [1] 3:1 That is, 3 p.m. [2] 3:13 Or child; also verse 26 [3] 3:16 Greek him (ESV)