Song of Solomon 8:12

⁶Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard.

¹⁷Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching. ¹⁸For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain.”And, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

²³Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

¹⁷His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed. ¹⁸Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. ¹⁹Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and amen.

²⁸Take heed, therefore, to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and^[+] God which he purchased with his own blood.

¹⁵He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.

⁷For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

²⁰for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

¹⁹For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus^[+] at his coming?

¹⁵Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all. ¹⁶Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.