Week 25, Day 4 in the LEB

Jun 20, 2024

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The reading for today is Song of Solomon 7-8; Psalm 127; 2 Thessalonians 2.

Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.

Song of Solomon 7

How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
    O royal princess!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
    the work of the hands of a craftsman.
Your navel is a round wine-mixing bowl
    that does not lack mixed wine!
Your belly is a heap of wheat
    encircled with lilies.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is like a tower of ivory;
    your eyes are pools in Heshbon at the gate of Beth Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
    looking out over Damascus.
Your head crowns you like Carmel;
    the flowing locks of your head are like purple tapestry;
        a king is held captive in the tresses!
How beautiful you are and how pleasant,
    O loved one in the delights!
Your stature is like the palm tree,
    and your breasts are like clusters.
I say, "I will climb up the palm tree;
    I will lay hold of its fruit clusters."
Let your breasts be pleasing like clusters of the vine
    and the scent of your breath like the apples.
Your palate is like the best wine that goes down for my beloved,
    smoothly gliding over my lips and teeth.

I belong to my beloved,
    and he desires me!

Come, my beloved, let us go out to the countryside;
    let us spend the night in the villages.
Let us rise early to go to the vineyards;
    let us see whether the vine has budded,
whether the grape blossom has opened,
    and whether the pomegranates are in bloom;
there I will give my love to you.
The mandrakes give off their fragrance,
    and over our doorway is every kind of delicious fruit;
both fresh and dried fruit I have stored up for you, O my beloved.

Song of Solomon 8

How I wish that you were my little brother,
    who nursed upon my mother’s breasts!
If I met you outside, I would kiss you,
    and no one would despise me!
I would surely bring you to the house of my mother,
    who would surely teach me;
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
    the sweet wine of my pomegranates.

His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me.
I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,
    do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!

Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
    leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you;
    there your mother conceived you;
        there she who was in labor gave birth to you.

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death;
    passion is fierce as Sheol;
its flashes are flashes of fire;
    it is a blazing flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot sweep it away.
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,
    he would be utterly scorned.

We have a little sister,
    and she does not yet have any breasts.
What should we do for our sister
    on the day when she is betrothed?
If she is a wall,
    we will adorn her with a turret of silver;
but if she is a door,
    we will barricade her with boards of cedar.
I was a wall, and my breasts were like the towers,
    so my betrothed viewed me with great delight.

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
    he entrusted his vineyard to the keepers;
    people paid a thousand silver pieces for its fruit.
My own "vineyard" belongs to me;
    the "thousand" are for you, O Solomon,
        and "two hundred" for those who tend its fruit.

O you who dwell in the garden,
    my companions are listening to your voice.
        Let me hear it!
Flee, my beloved!
    Be like a gazelle or a young stag
        upon the perfumed mountains!

Psalm 127

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

Unless Yahweh builds a house,
its builders labor at it in vain.
Unless Yahweh guards a city,
a guard watches in vain.
It is in vain for you who rise early and sit late,
eating the bread of anxious toil,
when thus he provides for his beloved in his sleep.
Look, children are the heritage of Yahweh;
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
so are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.
They shall not be put to shame
when they speak with enemies at the gate.

2 Thessalonians 2

Now we ask you, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to him, that you not be easily shaken from your composure, nor be troubled either by a spirit or by a message or by a letter alleged to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has arrived. Do not let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and who exalts himself over every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits down in the temple of God, proclaiming that he himself is God.

Do you not remember that while we were still with you, we were saying these things to you? And you know that which restrains him now, so that he will be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is at work already; only the one who now restrains will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of his mouth, and wipe out by the appearance of his coming, whose coming is in accordance with the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with every unrighteous deception against those who are perishing, in place of which they did not accept the love of the truth, so that they would be saved. And because of this, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but delighted in unrighteousness.

But we ought to give thanks to God always concerning you, brothers dearly loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as first fruits for salvation by the sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth, for which purpose he called you through our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions which you were taught, whether by spoken word or by letter from us. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.