Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

Song of Solomon 2
¹⁵ Catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love, for the grapevines are blossoming!
¹⁶ My lover is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies.
¹⁷ Before the dawn breezes blow and the night shadows flee, return to me, my love, like a gazelle or a young stag on the rugged mountains.
Song of Solomon 3
¹ One night as I lay in bed, I yearned for my lover. I yearned for him, but he did not come.
² So I said to myself, “I will get up and roam the city, searching in all its streets and squares. I will search for the one I love.” So I searched everywhere but did not find him.
³ The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds, and I asked, “Have you seen the one I love?”
⁴ Then scarcely had I left them when I found my love! I caught and held him tightly, then I brought him to my mother’s house, into my mother’s bed, where I had been conceived.
⁵ Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and wild deer, not to awaken love until the time is right.
⁶ Who is this sweeping in from the wilderness like a cloud of smoke? Who is it, fragrant with myrrh and frankincense and every kind of spice?
⁷ Look, it is Solomon’s carriage, surrounded by sixty heroic men, the best of Israel’s soldiers.
⁸ They are all skilled swordsmen, experienced warriors. Each wears a sword on his thigh, ready to defend the king against an attack in the night.