Day 263 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 147:12–20

¹²Exalt the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion! ¹³For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses the children within you. ¹⁴He makes peace at your borders; He fills you with the finest wheat. ¹⁵He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs swiftly. ¹⁶He spreads the snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes; ¹⁷He casts forth His hail like pebbles. Who can withstand His icy blast? ¹⁸He sends forth His word and melts them; He unleashes His winds, and the waters flow. ¹⁹He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel. ²⁰He has done this for no other nation; they do not know His judgments. Hallelujah!

New Testament·2 Corinthians 4

¹Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart. ²Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us. ⁸We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹²So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. ¹³And in keeping with what is written: “I believed, therefore I have spoken,” we who have the same spirit of faith also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. ¹⁵All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is extending to more and more people may overflow in thanksgiving, to the glory of God. ¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison. ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Old Testament·Song of Solomon 3–5

¹On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him. ²I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him. ³I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?” ⁴I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me. ⁵O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right. ⁶Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant? ⁷Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty of the mightiest men of Israel. ⁸All are skilled with the sword, experienced in warfare. Each has his sword at his side prepared for the terror of the night. ⁹King Solomon has made his carriage out of the timber of Lebanon. ¹⁰He has made its posts of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple fabric. Its interior is inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem. ¹¹Come out, O daughters of Zion, and gaze at King Solomon, wearing the crown his mother bestowed on the day of his wedding— the day of his heart’s rejoicing.

4How beautiful you are, my darling— how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead. ²Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin, and not one of them is lost. ³Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate. ⁴Your neck is like the tower of David, built with rows of stones; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. ⁵Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies. ⁶Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. ⁷You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw. ⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon! Descend from the peak of Amana, from the summits of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards. ⁹You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck. ¹⁰How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! Your love is much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices. ¹¹Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon. ¹²My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed. ¹³Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard, ¹⁴with nard and saffron, with calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of frankincense tree, with myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices. ¹⁵You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon. ¹⁶Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Breathe on my garden and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choicest fruits.

5I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. ²(1) Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved. ³(2) I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” (3) I have taken off my robe— must I put it back on? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again? ⁴My beloved put his hand to the latch; my heart pounded for him. ⁵I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt. ⁶I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him, but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer. ⁷I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city. They beat me and bruised me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls. ⁸O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love. ⁹How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so? ¹⁰My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. ¹¹His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven. ¹²His eyes are like doves beside the streams of water, bathed in milk and mounted like jewels. ¹³His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh. ¹⁴His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is an ivory panel bedecked with sapphires. ¹⁵His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars. ¹⁶His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.