December 29, 2026

Song of Songs4

Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty

He

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.

2 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.

3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread,

and your mouth is lovely.

Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.

4 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.

5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle,

that graze among the lilies.

6 Until the day breathes

and the shadows flee,

I will go away to the mountain of myrrh

and the hill of frankincense.

7 You are altogether beautiful, my love;

there is no flaw in you.

8 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.

9 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,

14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,

with all trees of frankincense,

myrrh and aloes,

with all choice spices—

15 a garden fountain, a well of living water,

and flowing streams from Lebanon.

16 Awake, O north wind,

and come, O south wind!

Blow upon my garden,

let its spices flow.

Together in the Garden of Love

She

Let my beloved come to his garden,

and eat its choicest fruits.

Song of Songs5

He

1 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.

13 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,

bedecked with sapphires.

15 His legs are alabaster columns,

set on bases of gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon,

choice as the cedars.

16 His mouth is most sweet,

and he is altogether desirable.

This is my beloved and this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.

Song of Songs6

Others

1 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 graze 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.

Others

13 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?

Song of Songs7

1 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!

7 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 mouth like the best wine.

She

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,

gliding over lips and teeth.

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;

12 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.

Song of Songs8

Longing for Her Beloved

1 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,

jealousy is fierce as the grave.

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,

he 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 finds 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.

Revelation21

The New Heaven and the New Earth

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

The New Jerusalem

9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.