Formation Journal Reading Plan

4:1 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, That lie along the side of mount Gilead.

4:2 Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn, Which are come up from the washing, Whereof every one hath twins, And none is bereaved among them.

4:3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, And thy mouth is comely. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate Behind thy veil.

4:4 Thy neck is like the tower of David Builded for an armory, Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, All the shields of the mighty men.

4:5 Thy two breasts are like two fawns That are twins of a roe, Which feed among the lilies.

4:6 Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, And to the hill of frankincense.

4:7 Thou art all fair, my love; And there is no spot in thee.

4:8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, With me from Lebanon: Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions’ dens, From the mountains of the leopards.

4:9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck.

4:10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride! How much better is thy love than wine! And the fragrance of thine oils than all manner of spices!

4:11 Thy lips, O my bride, drop as the honeycomb: Honey and milk are under thy tongue; And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

4:12 A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

4:13 Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants,

4:14 Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

4:15 Thou art a fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And flowing streams from Lebanon.

4:16 Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, And eat his precious fruits.

5:1 I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends; Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

5:2 I was asleep, but my heart waked: It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.

5:3 I have put off my garment; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

5:4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, And my heart was moved for him.

5:5 I rose up to open to my beloved; And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, Upon the handles of the bolt.

5:6 I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. My soul had failed me when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

5:7 The watchmen that go about the city found me, They smote me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.

5:8 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, That ye tell him, that I am sick from love.

5:9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, That thou dost so adjure us?

5:10 My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand.

5:11 His head is as the most fine gold; His locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

5:12 His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks, Washed with milk, and fitly set.

5:13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, As banks of sweet herbs: His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

5:14 His hands are as rings of gold set with beryl: His body is as ivory work overlaid with sapphires.

5:15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

5:16 His mouth is most sweet; Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

73:1 A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, Even to such as are pure in heart.

73:2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; My steps had well nigh slipped.

73:3 For I was envious at the arrogant, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

73:4 For there are no pangs in their death; But their strength is firm.

73:5 They are not in trouble as other men; Neither are they plagued like other men.

73:6 Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck; Violence covereth them as a garment.

73:7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: They have more than heart could wish.

73:8 They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression: They speak loftily.

73:9 They have set their mouth in the heavens, And their tongue walketh through the earth.

73:10 Therefore his people return hither: And waters of a full cup are drained by them.

73:11 And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?

73:12 Behold, these are the wicked; And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches.

73:13 Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, And washed my hands in innocency;

73:14 For all the day long have I been plagued, And chastened every morning.

8:1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God which hath been given in the churches of Macedonia;

8:2 how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

8:3 For according to their power, I bear witness, yea and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord,

8:4 beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of this grace and the fellowship in the ministering to the saints:

8:5 and this, not as we had hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God.

8:6 Insomuch that we exhorted Titus, that as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you this grace also.

8:7 But as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all earnestness, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.

8:8 I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.

8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich.

8:10 And herein I give my judgment: for this is expedient for you, who were the first to make a beginning a year ago, not only to do, but also to will.

8:11 But now complete the doing also; that as there was the readiness to will, so there may be the completion also out of your ability.

8:12 For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according as a man hath, not according as he hath not.

8:13 For I say not this that others may be eased and ye distressed;

8:14 but by equality: your abundance being a supply at this present time for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want; that there may be equality:

8:15 as it is written, He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack.