The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday September 6, 2018 (NIV)

⁸ The voice of my beloved!
Look, he comes
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
¹⁰ My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Rise up, my love,
my fair one, and come away.
¹¹ For now the winter has past;
the rain is over and gone.
¹² The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
¹³ The fig tree puts forth its green figs,
and the vines their blossoms;
and they give forth fragrance.
Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

¹⁴ O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret places of the cliffs,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
¹⁵ Catch the foxes for us,
the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom.”

¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his;
he feeds his flock among the lilies.
¹⁷ Until the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved,
be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the cleft mountains.^[a]

3 On my bed by night I sought him
whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not.
² I will rise now and go about the city,
in the streets and in the squares;
I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but found him not.
³ The watchmen found me,
as they went about the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
⁴ Scarcely had I passed them,
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go
until I brought him to my mother’s house,
and into the chamber of her who conceived me.
⁵ I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or does of the field,
do not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.

⁶ Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
like columns of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?
⁷ Look, it is the litter of Solomon!
Around it are sixty mighty men,
of the mighty men of Israel,
⁸ all of them holding swords
and expert in war,
each with his sword at his thigh,
because of terrors by night.
⁹ King Solomon made himself a palanquin
from the wood of Lebanon.
¹⁰ He made its posts of silver,
its back of gold,
its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love
by the daughters of Jerusalem.
¹¹ Go forth, O daughters of Zion,
and see King Solomon with the crown
with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.

⁸ Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;
come with me from Lebanon.
Depart from the peak of Amana,
from the peak of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountains of leopards.
⁹ You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have ravished my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
¹⁰ How fair is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better than wine is your love,
and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
¹¹ Your lips drip honey, my bride;
honey and milk are under your tongue;
and the fragrance of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.
¹² A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
a fountain sealed.
¹³ Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
with all choicest fruits,
henna with nard,
¹⁴ nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
with all the chief spices—
¹⁵ a garden fountain,
a well of living water,
and flowing streams from Lebanon.

⁷ “Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, even your God.
⁸ I will not reprove you for your sacrifices
or for your burnt offerings that are continually before Me.
⁹ I will take no young bull out of your house,
nor male goats out of your folds.
¹⁰ For every wild animal of the forest is Mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know every bird of the mountains,
and the creatures that move in the field are Mine.
¹² If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
¹³ Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴ Sacrifice a thank offering to God,
and pay your vows to the Most High,
¹⁵ and call on Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me.”

“What right have you to declare My statutes,
or take My covenant in your mouth?
¹⁷ You hate instruction,
and cast My words behind you.
¹⁸ When you see a thief, you are pleased,
and have a share in those who commit adultery.
¹⁹ You let loose your mouth to evil,
and your tongue is bound to deceit.
²⁰ You sit and speak against your brother;
you accuse your own mother’s son.
²¹ These things have you done, and I kept silent;
you thought that I was indeed like you;
but I will reprove you
and make a case before your eyes.

²² “Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:
²³ Whoever sacrifices a thank offering
glorifies Me and makes a way;
I will show him the salvation of God.”