Daily Wisdom Plan

¹The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:

²What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows?

³Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.

⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink,

⁵lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

⁶Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress;

⁷let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

⁸Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.

⁹Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

¹⁰An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.

¹²She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.

¹³She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.

¹⁴She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.

¹⁵She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.

¹⁶She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.

¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

²⁰She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

²²She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.

²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.

²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”

³⁰Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

¹The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.

²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine;

³your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you.

⁴Draw 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.

⁵I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do 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!

⁷Tell 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?

⁸If 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.

⁹I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots.

¹⁰Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.

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

¹²While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.

¹³My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh that lies between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Engedi.

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

¹⁶Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful. Our couch is green;

¹⁷the beams of our house are cedar; our rafters are pine.

¹I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

²As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women.

³As 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.

⁴He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

⁵Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.

⁶His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!

⁷I 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.

⁸The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.

⁹My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice.

¹⁰My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away,

¹¹for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.

¹²The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

¹⁴O 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.

¹⁵Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.”

¹⁶My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies.

¹⁷Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains.