Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Song of Songs 7:11-13

¹¹Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages. ¹²Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom-- there I will give you my love. ¹³The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my lover.

Song of Songs 8:1-14

¹If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother's breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. ²I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house-- she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates. ³His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. ⁴Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

⁵Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover?

Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth. ⁶Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. ⁷Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

⁸We have a young sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for? ⁹If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment. ¹¹Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; he let out his vineyard to tenants. Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver. ¹²But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

¹³You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!

¹⁴Come away, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains.

 

 

Psalm 22

¹For the director of music. To [the tune of] "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? ²O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. ³Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. ⁴In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. ⁵They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. ⁶But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. ⁷All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ⁸"He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." ⁹Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. ¹⁰From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God. ¹¹Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. ¹²Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. ¹³Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. ¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. ¹⁵My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. ¹⁶Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. ¹⁷I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. ¹⁸They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. ¹⁹But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. ²⁰Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. ²¹Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. ²²I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. ²³You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! ²⁴For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. ²⁵From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows. ²⁶The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him-- may your hearts live forever! ²⁷All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, ²⁸for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. ²⁹All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him-- those who cannot keep themselves alive. ³⁰Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. ³¹They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn-- for he has done it.

 

 

Matthew 12:15–37

¹⁵Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, ¹⁶warning them not to tell who he was. ¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁸"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. ¹⁹He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. ²⁰A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. ²¹In his name the nations will put their hope."

²²Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²³All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"

²⁴But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."

²⁵Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? ²⁷And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²⁹"Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.

³⁰"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. ³¹And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³²Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

³³"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. ³⁴You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. ³⁵The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. ³⁷For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."