Many Disciples Turn Away

60 (A)Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a [a]hard saying; who can understand it?”

61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples [b]complained about this, He said to them, “Does this [c]offend you? 62 (B)What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 (C)It is the Spirit who gives life; the (D)flesh profits nothing. The (E)words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But (F)there are some of you who do not believe.” For (G)Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore (H)I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

66 (I)From that time many of His disciples went [d]back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”

68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have (J)the words of eternal life. 69 (K)Also we have come to believe and know that You are the [e]Christ, the Son of the living God.”

70 Jesus answered them, (L)“Did I not choose you, the twelve, (M)and one of you is a devil?” 71 He spoke of (N)Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would (O)betray Him, being one of the twelve.

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Footnotes

  1. John 6:60 difficult
  2. John 6:61 grumbled
  3. John 6:61 make you stumble
  4. John 6:66 Or away; lit. to the back
  5. John 6:69 NU Holy One of God.

Christ’s Example to Be Followed

Therefore, since Christ suffered [a]for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, (A)but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past [b]lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to Him who is ready (B)to judge the living and the dead. For this reason (C)the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but (D)live according to God in the spirit.

Serving for God’s Glory

But (E)the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for (F)“love will cover a multitude of sins.” (G)Be hospitable to one another (H)without grumbling. 10 (I)As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, (J)as good stewards of (K)the manifold grace of God. 11 (L)If anyone speaks, let him speak as the [c]oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that (M)in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the [d]dominion forever and ever. Amen.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 4:1 NU omits for us
  2. 1 Peter 4:3 NU time
  3. 1 Peter 4:11 utterances
  4. 1 Peter 4:11 sovereignty

I Am My Beloved’s

The Daughters of Jerusalem

Where has your beloved gone,
(A)O fairest among women?
Where has your beloved turned aside,
That we may seek him with you?

The Shulamite

My beloved has gone to his (B)garden,
To the beds of spices,
To feed his flock in the gardens,
And to gather lilies.
(C)I am my beloved’s,
And my beloved is mine.
He feeds his flock among the lilies.

Praise of the Shulamite’s Beauty

The Beloved

O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,
Lovely as Jerusalem,
Awesome as an army with banners!
Turn your eyes away from me,
For they have [a]overcome me.
Your hair is (D)like a flock of goats
Going down from Gilead.
(E)Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
Which have come up from the washing;
Every one bears twins,
And none is [b]barren among them.
(F)Like a piece of pomegranate
Are your temples behind your veil.

There are sixty queens
And eighty concubines,
And (G)virgins without number.
My dove, my (H)perfect one,
Is the only one,
The only one of her mother,
The favorite of the one who bore her.
The daughters saw her
And called her blessed,
The queens and the concubines,
And they praised her.

10 Who is she who looks forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
(I)Awesome as an army with banners?

The Shulamite

11 I went down to the garden of nuts
To see the verdure of the valley,
(J)To see whether the vine had budded
And the pomegranates had bloomed.
12 Before I was even aware,
My soul had made me
As the chariots of [c]my noble people.

The Beloved and His Friends

13 Return, return, O Shulamite;
Return, return, that we may look upon you!

The Shulamite

What would you see in the Shulamite—
As it were, the dance of [d]the two camps?

Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 6:5 overwhelmed
  2. Song of Solomon 6:6 bereaved
  3. Song of Solomon 6:12 Heb. Ammi Nadib
  4. Song of Solomon 6:13 Heb. Mahanaim

Jerusalem in Affliction

How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
(A)How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The (B)princess among the provinces
Has become a [a]slave!

She (C)weeps bitterly in the (D)night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.

(E)Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
(F)She dwells among the [b]nations,
She finds no (G)rest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.

The roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes to the [c]set feasts.
All her gates are (H)desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.

Her adversaries (I)have become [d]the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the Lord has afflicted her
(J)Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her (K)children have gone into captivity before the enemy.

And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture,
That [e]flee without strength
Before the pursuer.

In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem (L)remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her [f]downfall.

(M)Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become [g]vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because (N)they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.

Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She (O)did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”

10 The adversary has spread his hand
Over all her [h]pleasant things;
For she has seen (P)the nations enter her [i]sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
(Q)Not to enter Your assembly.

11 All her people sigh,
(R)They [j]seek bread;
They have given their [k]valuables for food to restore life.
“See, O Lord, and consider,
For I am scorned.”

12 Is it nothing to you, all you who [l]pass by?
Behold and see
(S)If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the Lord has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.

13 “From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has (T)spread a net for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.

14 “The(U) yoke of my transgressions was [m]bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.

15 “The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
(V)The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.

16 “For these things I weep;
My eye, (W)my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.”

17 (X)Zion [n]spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob
That those (Y)around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

18 “The Lord is (Z)righteous,
For I (AA)rebelled against His [o]commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.

19 “I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.

20 “See, O Lord, that I am in distress;
My (AB)soul[p] is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
(AC)Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.

21 “They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are (AD)glad that You have done it.
Bring on (AE)the day You have [q]announced,
That they may become like me.

22 “Let(AF) all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”

Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 1:1 Lit. forced laborer
  2. Lamentations 1:3 Gentiles
  3. Lamentations 1:4 appointed
  4. Lamentations 1:5 Lit. her head
  5. Lamentations 1:6 Lit. are gone
  6. Lamentations 1:7 Vg. Sabbaths
  7. Lamentations 1:8 LXX, Vg. moved or removed
  8. Lamentations 1:10 desirable
  9. Lamentations 1:10 holy place, the temple
  10. Lamentations 1:11 hunt food
  11. Lamentations 1:11 desirable things
  12. Lamentations 1:12 Lit. pass by this way
  13. Lamentations 1:14 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Syr., Vg. watched over
  14. Lamentations 1:17 Prays
  15. Lamentations 1:18 Lit. mouth
  16. Lamentations 1:20 Lit. inward parts
  17. Lamentations 1:21 proclaimed

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