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Reading Plan
Day 161 Day 162Day 163

Song of Songs chapter 5

1
I have entered my garden, my sweetheart, my bride. I am gathering my spices and myrrh; I am eating my honey and honeycomb; I am drinking my wine and milk. Eat, lovers, and drink until you are drunk with love!
2
While I slept, my heart was awake. I dreamed my lover knocked at the door. Let me come in, my darling, my sweetheart, my dove. My head is wet with dew, and my hair is damp from the mist.
3
I have already undressed; why should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet; why should I get them dirty again?
4
My lover put his hand to the door, and I was thrilled that he was near.
5
I was ready to let him come in. My hands were covered with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, as I grasped the handle of the door.
6
I opened the door for my lover, but he had already gone. How I wanted to hear his voice! I looked for him, but couldn't find him; I called to him, but heard no answer.
7
The sentries patrolling the city found me; they struck me and bruised me; the guards at the city wall tore off my cape.
8
Promise me, women of Jerusalem, that if you find my lover, you will tell him I am weak from passion.
9
Most beautiful of women, is your lover different from everyone else? What is there so wonderful about him that we should give you our promise?
10
My lover is handsome and strong; he is one in ten thousand.
11
His face is bronzed and smooth; his hair is wavy, black as a raven.
12
His eyes are as beautiful as doves by a flowing brook, doves washed in milk and standing by the stream.
13
His cheeks are as lovely as a garden that is full of herbs and spices. His lips are like lilies, wet with liquid myrrh.
14
His hands are well-formed, and he wears rings set with gems. His body is like smooth ivory, with sapphires set in it.
15
His thighs are columns of alabaster set in sockets of gold. He is majestic, like the Lebanon Mountains with their towering cedars.
16
His mouth is sweet to kiss; everything about him enchants me. This is what my lover is like, women of Jerusalem.

Song of Songs chapter 6

1
Most beautiful of women, where has your lover gone? Tell us which way your lover went, so that we can help you find him.
2
My lover has gone to his garden, where the balsam trees grow. He is feeding his flock in the garden and gathering lilies.
3
My lover is mine, and I am his; he feeds his flock among the lilies.
4
My love, you are as beautiful as Jerusalem, as lovely as the city of Tirzah, as breathtaking as these great cities.
5
Turn your eyes away from me; they are holding me captive. Your hair dances like a flock of goats bounding down the hills of Gilead.
6
Your teeth are as white as a flock of sheep that have just been washed. Not one of them is missing; they are all perfectly matched.
7
Your cheeks glow behind your veil.
8
Let the king have sixty queens, eighty concubines, young women without number!
9
But I love only one, and she is as lovely as a dove. She is her mother's only daughter, her mother's favorite child. All women look at her and praise her; queens and concubines sing her praises.
10
Who is this whose glance is like the dawn? She is beautiful and bright, as dazzling as the sun or the moon.
11
I have come down among the almond trees to see the young plants in the valley, to see the new leaves on the vines and the blossoms on the pomegranate trees.
12
I am trembling; you have made me as eager for love as a chariot driver is for battle.
13
Dance, dance, girl of Shulam. Let us watch you as you dance. Why do you want to watch me as I dance between the rows of onlookers?

Song of Songs chapter 7

1
What a magnificent young woman you are! How beautiful are your feet in sandals. The curve of your thighs is like the work of an artist.
2
A bowl is there, that never runs out of spiced wine. A sheaf of wheat is there, surrounded by lilies.
3
Your breasts are like twin deer, like two gazelles.
4
Your neck is like a tower of ivory. Your eyes are like the pools in the city of Heshbon, near the gate of that great city. Your nose is as lovely as the tower of Lebanon that stands guard at Damascus.
5
Your head is held high like Mount Carmel. Your braided hair shines like the finest satin; its beauty could hold a king captive.
6
How pretty you are, how beautiful; how complete the delights of your love.
7
You are as graceful as a palm tree, and your breasts are clusters of dates.
8
I will climb the palm tree and pick its fruit. To me your breasts are like bunches of grapes, your breath like the fragrance of apples,
9
and your mouth like the finest wine. Then let the wine flow straight to my lover, flowing over his lips and teeth.
10
I belong to my lover, and he desires me.
11
Come, darling, let's go out to the countryside and spend the night in the villages.
12
We will get up early and look at the vines to see whether they've started to grow, whether the blossoms are opening and the pomegranate trees are in bloom. There I will give you my love.
13
You can smell the scent of mandrakes, and all the pleasant fruits are near our door. Darling, I have kept for you the old delights and the new.

Song of Songs chapter 8

1
I wish that you were my brother, that my mother had nursed you at her breast. Then, if I met you in the street, I could kiss you and no one would mind.
2
I would take you to my mother's house, where you could teach me love. I would give you spiced wine, my pomegranate wine to drink.
3
Your left hand is under my head, and your right hand caresses me.
4
Promise me, women of Jerusalem, that you will not interrupt our love.
5
Who is this coming from the desert, arm in arm with her lover? Under the apple tree I woke you, in the place where you were born.
6
Close your heart to every love but mine; hold no one in your arms but me. Love is as powerful as death; passion is as strong as death itself. It bursts into flame and burns like a raging fire.
7
Water cannot put it out; no flood can drown it. But if any tried to buy love with their wealth, contempt is all they would get.
8
We have a young sister, and her breasts are still small. What will we do for her when a young man comes courting?
9
If she is a wall, we will build her a silver tower. But if she is a gate, we will protect her with panels of cedar.
10
I am a wall, and my breasts are its towers. My lover knows that with him I find contentment and peace.
11
Solomon has a vineyard in a place called Baal Hamon. There are farmers who rent it from him; each one pays a thousand silver coins.
12
Solomon is welcome to his thousand coins, and the farmers to two hundred as their share; I have a vineyard of my own!
13
Let me hear your voice from the garden, my love; my companions are waiting to hear you speak.
14
Come to me, my lover, like a gazelle, like a young stag on the mountains where spices grow.

Philippians chapter 1

1
From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus--- To all God's people in Philippi who are in union with Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and helpers:
2
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
3
I thank my God for you every time I think of you;
4
and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy
5
because of the way in which you have helped me in the work of the gospel from the very first day until now.
6
And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus.
7
You are always in my heart! And so it is only right for me to feel as I do about you. For you have all shared with me in this privilege that God has given me, both now that I am in prison and also while I was free to defend the gospel and establish it firmly.
8
God is my witness that I tell the truth when I say that my deep feeling for you all comes from the heart of Christ Jesus himself.
9
I pray that your love will keep on growing more and more, together with true knowledge and perfect judgment,
10
so that you will be able to choose what is best. Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ.
11
Your lives will be filled with the truly good qualities which only Jesus Christ can produce, for the glory and praise of God.
12
I want you to know, my friends, that the things that have happened to me have really helped the progress of the gospel.
13
As a result, the whole palace guard and all the others here know that I am in prison because I am a servant of Christ.
14
And my being in prison has given most of the believers more confidence in the Lord, so that they grow bolder all the time to preach the message fearlessly.
15
Of course some of them preach Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome, but others from genuine good will.
16
These do so from love, because they know that God has given me the work of defending the gospel.
17
The others do not proclaim Christ sincerely, but from a spirit of selfish ambition; they think that they will make more trouble for me while I am in prison.
18
It does not matter! I am happy about it---just so Christ is preached in every way possible, whether from wrong or right motives. And I will continue to be happy,
19
because I know that by means of your prayers and the help which comes from the Spirit of Jesus Christ I shall be set free.
20
My deep desire and hope is that I shall never fail in my duty, but that at all times, and especially right now, I shall be full of courage, so that with my whole being I shall bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.
21
For what is life? To me, it is Christ. Death, then, will bring more.
22
But if by continuing to live I can do more worthwhile work, then I am not sure which I should choose.
23
I am pulled in two directions. I want very much to leave this life and be with Christ, which is a far better thing;
24
but for your sake it is much more important that I remain alive.
25
I am sure of this, and so I know that I will stay. I will stay on with you all, to add to your progress and joy in the faith,
26
so that when I am with you again, you will have even more reason to be proud of me in your life in union with Christ Jesus.
27
Now, the important thing is that your way of life should be as the gospel of Christ requires, so that, whether or not I am able to go and see you, I will hear that you are standing firm with one common purpose and that with only one desire you are fighting together for the faith of the gospel.
28
Don't be afraid of your enemies; always be courageous, and this will prove to them that they will lose and that you will win, because it is God who gives you the victory.
29
For you have been given the privilege of serving Christ, not only by believing in him, but also by suffering for him.
30
Now you can take part with me in the battle. It is the same battle you saw me fighting in the past, and as you hear, the one I am fighting still.

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