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the feast of love

Song of Songs 1:9-2:7 (JDV)

Song of Songs 1:9 I compare you, my companion, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
Song of Songs 1:10 Your cheeks are beautiful with jewelry, your neck with its necklace.
Song of Songs 1:11 We will make gold jewelry for you, accented with silver.
Song of Songs 1:12 While the king is on his couch, my perfume releases its fragrance.
Song of Songs 1:13 The one I love is a sachet of myrrh to me, spending the night between my breasts.
Song of Songs 1:14 The one I love is a cluster of henna blossoms to me, in the vineyards of En-gedi.
Song of Songs 1:15 How beautiful you are, my companion. How incredibly beautiful! Your eyes are doves.
Song of Songs 1:16 How handsome you are, my love. How delightful! Our bed is lush;
Song of Songs 1:17 the beams of our house are cedars, and our rafters are cypresses.
Song of Songs 2:1 I am a wildflower of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
Song of Songs 2:2 Like a lily among thorns, so is my companion among the young women.
Song of Songs 2:3 Like an apricot tree among the trees of the forest, so is my love among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
Song of Songs 2:4 He brought me to the banquet hall, and he looked on me with love.
Song of Songs 2:5 Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apricots, for I am lovesick.
Song of Songs 2:6 May his left hand be under my head, and his right arm embrace me.
Song of Songs 2:7 Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and the wild does of the field, do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time.

the feast of love

The lovers in this song feast on each other’s beauty. They have eyes for each other, and all others become dull backdrops for the main attraction. She is a lily among brambles. He is an apple tree, giving both cool shade, and sweet fruit. Love is a feast, and one for which we can celebrate the master of the feast – the one who put a man and a woman in a garden to enjoy all its delights – including each other.

LORD, thank you for the feast of love.