Formation Journal Reading Plan

Song of Solomon 2-3

2:1 I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
2:2 As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste.
2:4 He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love.
2:5 Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am faint with love.
2:6 His left hand is under my head. His right hand embraces me.
2:7 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
2:8 The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills.
2:9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart. Behold, he stands behind our wall! He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice.
2:10 My beloved spoke, and said to me, “Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
2:11 For, behold, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone.
2:12 The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
2:13 The fig tree ripens her green figs. The vines are in blossom. They give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”
2:14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
2:15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom.
2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies.
2:17 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Bether.
3:1 By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
3:2 I will get up 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 I didn’t find him.
3:3 The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
3:4 I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me.
3:5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
3:6 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?
3:7 Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel.
3:8 They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night.
3:9 King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon.
3:10 He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, its midst being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.
3:11 Go forth, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart.

Psalm 72:12-20

72:12 For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper.
72:13 He will have pity on the poor and needy. He will save the souls of the needy.
72:14 He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
72:15 They shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Men shall pray for him continually. They shall bless him all day long.
72:16 Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
72:17 His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
72:18 Praise be to Yahweh God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
72:19 Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and amen.
72:20 This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse.

2 Corinthians 7:2-16

7:2 Open your hearts to us. We wronged no one. We corrupted no one. We took advantage of no one.
7:3 I say this not to condemn you, for I have said before, that you are in our hearts to die together and live together.
7:4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I overflow with joy in all our affliction.
7:5 For even when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side. Fightings were outside. Fear was inside.
7:6 Nevertheless, he who comforts the lowly, God, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
7:7 and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, while he told us of your longing, your mourning, and your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced still more.
7:8 For though I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that my letter made you sorry, though just for a while.
7:9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly way, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing.
7:10 For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world works death.
7:11 For behold, this same thing, that you were made sorry in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and vengeance! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in the matter.
7:12 So although I wrote to you, I wrote not for his cause that did the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered the wrong, but that your earnest care for us might be revealed in you in the sight of God.
7:13 Therefore we have been comforted. In our comfort we rejoiced the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
7:14 For if in anything I have boasted to him on your behalf, I was not disappointed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, so our glorying also which I made before Titus was found to be truth.
7:15 His affection is more abundantly toward you, while he remembers all of your obedience, how with fear and trembling you received him.
7:16 I rejoice that in everything I am confident concerning you.