Day 255 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Song of Songs 7

1 Return, return, O Sunamite; return, return, and we will look at thee. What will ye see in the Sunamite? She comes as bands of armies. 2 Thy steps are beautiful in shoes, O daughter of the prince: the joints of [thy] thighs are like chains, the work of the craftsman. 3 Thy navel is [as] a turned bowl, not wanting liquor; thy belly is [as] a heap of wheat set about with lilies. 4 Thy two breasts are as two twin fawns. 5 Thy neck is as an ivory tower; thine eyes are as pools in Esebon, by the gates of the daughter of many: thy nose is as the tower of Libanus, looking toward Damascus. 6 Thy head upon thee is as Carmel, and the curls of thy hair like scarlet; the king is bound in the galleries. 7 How beautiful art thou, and how sweet art thou, [my] love! 8 This is thy greatness in thy delights: thou wast made like a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters. 9 I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its high boughs: and now shall thy breasts be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose as apples; 10 and thy throat as good wine, going well with my kinsman, suiting my lips and teeth. 11 I am my kinsman's, and his desire is toward me. 12 Come, my kinsman, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. 13 Let us go early into the vineyards; let us see if the vine has flowered, [if] the blossoms have appeared, if the pomegranates have blossomed; there will I give thee my breasts. 14 The mandrakes have given a smell, and at our doors [are] all kinds of choice fruits, new and old. O my kinsman, I have kept [them] for thee.

Song of Songs 8

1 I would that thou, O my kinsman, wert he that sucked the breasts of my mother; when I found thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, they should not despise me. 2 I would take thee, I would bring thee into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me; I would make thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranates. 3 His left hand [should be] under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. 4 I have charged you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the virtues of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, until he please. 5 Who is this that comes up all white, leaning on her kinsman? I raised thee up under an apple-tree; there thy mother brought thee forth; there she that bore thee brought thee forth. 6 Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave, her shafts are shafts of fire, [even] the flames thereof. 7 Much water will not be able to quench love, and rivers shall not drown it; if a man would give all his substance for love, [men] would utterly despise it. 8 Our sister is little, and has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister, in the day wherein she shall be spoken for? 9 If she is a wall, let us build upon her silver bulwarks; and if she is a door, let us carve for her cedar panels. 10 I am a wall, and my breasts are as towers; I was in their eyes as one that found peace. 11 Solomon had a vineyard in Beelamon; he let his vineyard to keepers; every one was to bring for its fruit a thousand [pieces] of silver. 12 My vineyard, even mine, is before me; Solomon [shall have] a thousand, and they that keep its fruit two hundred. 13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: make me hear [it]. 14 Away, my kinsman, and be like a doe or a fawn on the mountains of spices.

Wisdom of Solomon 1

1 Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth: think of the Lord with a good (heart,) and in simplicity of heart seek him. 2 For he will be found of them that tempt him not; and sheweth himself unto such as do not distrust him. 3 For froward thoughts separate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise. 4 For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter: nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin. 5 For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding, and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in. 6 For wisdom is a loving spirit; and will not acquit a blasphemer of his words: for God is witness of his reins, and a true beholder of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue. 7 For the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world: and that which containeth all things hath knowledge of the voice. 8 Therefore he that speaketh unrighteous things cannot be hidden: neither shall vengeance, when it punisheth, pass by him. 9 For inquisition shall be made into the counsels of the ungodly: and the sound of his words shall come unto the Lord for the manifestation of his wicked deeds. 10 For the ear of jealousy heareth all things: and the noise of murmurings is not hid. 11 Therefore beware of murmuring, which is unprofitable; and refrain your tongue from backbiting: for there is no word so secret, that shall go for nought: and the mouth that belieth slayeth the soul. 12 Seek not death in the error of your life: and pull not upon yourselves destruction with the works of your hands. 13 For God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. 14 For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth: 15 (for righteousness is immortal:) 16 but ungodly men with their works and words called it to them: for when they thought to have it their friend, they consumed to nought, and made a covenant with it, because they are worthy to take part with it.

2 Corinthians 12

1 It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast, but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago—whether in the body, I don’t know, or whether out of the body, I don’t know; God knows. 3 I know such a man (whether in the body, or outside of the body, I don’t know; God knows), 4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 5 On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in my weaknesses. 6 For if I would desire to boast, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, so that no man may think more of me than that which he sees in me or hears from me. 7 By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively. 8 Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. 11 I have become foolish in boasting. You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you, for I am in no way inferior to the very best apostles, though I am nothing. 12 Truly the signs of an apostle were worked among you in all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty works. 13 For what is there in which you were made inferior to the rest of the assemblies, unless it is that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong! 14 Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I seek not your possessions, but you. For the children ought not to save up for the parents, but the parents for the children. 15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less? 16 Even so, I myself didn’t burden you. But you might say that being crafty, I caught you with deception. 17 Did I take advantage of you by anyone of those whom I have sent to you? 18 I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit? Didn’t we walk in the same steps? 19 Again, do you think that we are excusing ourselves to you? In the sight of God we speak in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying. 20 For I am afraid that perhaps when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don’t desire, that perhaps there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, or riots, 21 that again when I come my God would humble me before you, and I would mourn for many of those who have sinned before now, and not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and lustfulness which they committed.