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Soulfood Daily Bible Readings

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Song of Solomon 1–4:13

1:1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

She

  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
  For your love is better than wine;
    your anointing oils are fragrant;
  your name is oil poured out;
    therefore virgins love you.
  Draw me after you; let us run.
    The king has brought me into his chambers.

Others

  We will exult and rejoice in you;
    we will extol your love more than wine;
    rightly do they love you.

She

  I am very dark, but lovely,
    O daughters of Jerusalem,
  like the tents of Kedar,
    like the curtains of Solomon.
  Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
    because the sun has looked upon me.
  My mother’s sons were angry with me;
    they made me keeper of the vineyards,
    but my own vineyard I have not kept!
  Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
    where you pasture your flock,
    where you make it lie down at noon;
  for why should I be like one who veils herself
    beside the flocks of your companions?

He

  If you do not know,
    O most beautiful among women,
  follow in the tracks of the flock,
    and pasture your young goats
    beside the shepherds’ tents.
  I compare you, my love,
    to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10   Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
    your neck with strings of jewels.

Others

11   We will make for you ornaments of gold,
    studded with silver.

She

12   While the king was on his couch,
    my nard gave forth its fragrance.
13   My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
    that lies between my breasts.
14   My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
    in the vineyards of Engedi.

He

15   Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
    behold, you are beautiful;
    your eyes are doves.

She

16   Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
  Our couch is green;
17     the beams of our house are cedar;
    our rafters are pine.
2:1   I am a rose of Sharon,
    a lily of the valleys.

He

  As a lily among brambles,
    so is my love among the young women.

She

  As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
    so is my beloved among the young men.
  With great delight I sat in his shadow,
    and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
  He brought me to the banqueting house,
    and his banner over me was love.
  Sustain me with raisins;
    refresh me with apples,
    for I am sick with love.
  His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
    by the gazelles or the does of the field,
  that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

  The voice of my beloved!
    Behold, he comes,
  leaping over the mountains,
    bounding over the hills.
  My beloved is like a gazelle
    or a young stag.
  Behold, there he stands
    behind our wall,
  gazing through the windows,
    looking through the lattice.
10   My beloved speaks and says to me:
  “Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
    and come away,
11   for behold, the winter is past;
    the rain is over and gone.
12   The flowers appear on the earth,
    the time of singing has come,
  and the voice of the turtledove
    is heard in our land.
13   The fig tree ripens its figs,
    and the vines are in blossom;
    they give forth fragrance.
  Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
    and come away.
14   O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
    in the crannies of the cliff,
  let me see your face,
    let me hear your voice,
  for your voice is sweet,
    and your face is lovely.
15   Catch the foxes for us,
    the little foxes
  that spoil the vineyards,
    for our vineyards are in blossom.”
16   My beloved is mine, and I am his;
    he grazes among the lilies.
17   Until the day breathes
    and the shadows flee,
  turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
    or a young stag on cleft mountains.

3:1   On my bed by night
  I sought him whom my soul loves;
    I sought him, but found him not.
  I will rise now and go about the city,
    in the streets and in the squares;
  I will seek him whom my soul loves.
    I sought him, but found him not.
  The watchmen found me
    as they went about in the city.
  “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
  Scarcely had I passed them
    when I found him whom my soul loves.
  I held him, and would not let him go
    until I had brought him into my mother’s house,
    and into the chamber of her who conceived me.
  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
    by the gazelles or the does of the field,
  that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

  What is that coming up from the wilderness
    like columns of smoke,
  perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
    with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
  Behold, it is the litter of Solomon!
  Around it are sixty mighty men,
    some of the mighty men of Israel,
  all of them wearing swords
    and expert in war,
  each with his sword at his thigh,
    against terror by night.
  King Solomon made himself a carriage
    from the wood of Lebanon.
10   He made its posts of silver,
    its back of gold, its seat of purple;
  its interior was inlaid with love
    by the daughters of Jerusalem.
11   Go out, O daughters of Zion,
    and look upon King Solomon,
  with the crown with which his mother crowned him
    on the day of his wedding,
    on the day of the gladness of his heart.

He

4:1   Behold, you are beautiful, my love,
    behold, you are beautiful!
  Your eyes are doves
    behind your veil.
  Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
  Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
    that have come up from the washing,
  all of which bear twins,
    and not one among them has lost its young.
  Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
    and your mouth is lovely.
  Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
  Your neck is like the tower of David,
    built in rows of stone;
  on it hang a thousand shields,
    all of them shields of warriors.
  Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle,
    that graze among the lilies.
  Until the day breathes
    and the shadows flee,
  I will go away to the mountain of myrrh
    and the hill of frankincense.
  You are altogether beautiful, my love;
    there is no flaw in you.
  Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;
    come with me from Lebanon.
  Depart from the peak of Amana,
    from the peak of Senir and Hermon,
  from the dens of lions,
    from the mountains of leopards.
  You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;
    you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
    with one jewel of your necklace.
10   How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
    How much better is your love than wine,
    and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
11   Your lips drip nectar, my bride;
    honey and milk are under your tongue;
    the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12   A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
    a spring locked, a fountain sealed.
13   Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates
    with all choicest fruits,
    henna with nard,

Matthew 22:15–22

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

Psalm 21

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

21:1   O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices,
    and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
  You have given him his heart’s desire
    and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
  For you meet him with rich blessings;
    you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
  He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
    length of days forever and ever.
  His glory is great through your salvation;
    splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
  For you make him most blessed forever;
    you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
  For the king trusts in the LORD,
    and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
  Your hand will find out all your enemies;
    your right hand will find out those who hate you.
  You will make them as a blazing oven
    when you appear.
  The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath,
    and fire will consume them.
10   You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
    and their offspring from among the children of man.
11   Though they plan evil against you,
    though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12   For you will put them to flight;
    you will aim at their faces with your bows.
13   Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength!
    We will sing and praise your power.

Proverbs 16:16–19

16   How much better to get wisdom than gold!
    To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
17   The highway of the upright turns aside from evil;
    whoever guards his way preserves his life.
18   Pride goes before destruction,
    and a haughty spirit before a fall.
19   It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor
    than to divide the spoil with the proud.


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