Daily Wisdom Plan

¹Where has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Which way has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?

²My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

³I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

⁴You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.

⁵Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, that have come up from the washing; all of them bear twins, and not one among them is bereaved.

⁷Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number.

⁹My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the darling of her mother, flawless to her that bore her. The maidens saw her and called her happy; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.

¹⁰“Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?”

¹¹I 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.

¹²Before I was aware, my fancy set me in a chariot beside my prince.

¹³Return, return, O Shulammite! Return, return, that we may look upon you. Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies?

¹How graceful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.

²Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies.

³Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

⁴Your 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, overlooking Damascus.

⁵Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses.

⁶How fair and pleasant you are, O loved one, delectable maiden!

⁷You are stately as a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.

⁸I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its branches. O may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples,

⁹and your kisses like the best wine that goes down smoothly, gliding over lips and teeth.

¹⁰I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.

¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the fields, and lodge in the villages;

¹²let 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.

¹³The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and over our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

¹O that you were like a brother to me, who nursed at my mother’s breast! If I met you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

²I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of the one who bore me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates.

³O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!

⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!

⁵Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon 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.

⁶Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of one’s house, it would be utterly scorned.

⁸We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister, on the day when she is spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

¹⁰I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who brings peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he entrusted the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

¹²My vineyard, my very own, is for myself; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred!

¹³O you who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice; let me hear it.

¹⁴Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of spices!