Old/New Testament
Title
Maiden’s Soliloquy
2 May[c] you kiss me[d] passionately with your lips,[e]
for your love is better than wine.[f]
3 As fragrance, your perfumes[g] are delightful;[h]
your name is poured out perfume;[i]
therefore young women love you.
4 Draw me after you, let us run!
May the king bring me into his chambers![j]
Let us be joyful and let us rejoice in you;
let us extol your love more than wine.
Rightly do they love you!
Maiden’s Self-Description
5 I am black but beautiful,[k] O maidens of Jerusalem,[l]
like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am black, [m]
because the sun has stared at me.
The sons of my mother were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own “vineyard”[n] I did not keep.
Dialogue between Shepherdess and Shepherd
7 Tell me, you whom my heart[o] loves,
where do you pasture your flock,
where do your sheep lie down at the noon?
For why should I be like[p] one who is veiled[q]
beside the flocks of your companions?
8 If you do not know, O fairest among women,
follow the tracks[r] of the flock,
and pasture your little lambs[s] beside the tents of the shepherds.
Man’s Poetic Praise of His Beloved
9 To a mare[t] among the chariots[u] of Pharaoh,
I compare you, my beloved.
10 Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
11 We will make ornaments of gold for you
with studs[v] of silver.
Maiden’s Poetic Praise of Her Beloved
12 While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a pouch[w] of myrrh,
he spends the night[x] between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of blossoms of henna
in the vineyards of En Gedi.
Mutual Admiration
15 Look! You are beautiful, my beloved.
Look! You are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.
16 Look! You are beautiful, my beloved,
truly pleasant.
Truly our couch is verdant;[y]
17 the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafter is cypress.
Dialogue between Maiden and Her Beloved
2 I am a rose[z] of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
2 Like a lily among the thorns,[aa]
so is my love among the maidens.
3 As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
In his shade I sat down with delight,[ab]
and his fruit was sweet to my palate.
Banquet Hall of Love
4 He brought me to the house of the wine,
and his intention was love toward me.
5 Sustain me with the raisins,
refresh me with the apples,
for I am lovesick.[ac]
Double Refrain: Embrace and Adjuration
6 His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces[ad] me.
7 I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,[ae]
by the gazelles or by the does of the field,
do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases![af]
Rendezvous in the Countryside
8 The voice of my beloved!
Look! Here he[ag] comes leaping upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills!
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.[ah]
Look! He is[ai] standing behind our wall,
gazing through[aj] the window,
looking through[ak] the lattice.
10 My beloved answered and said to me,
“Arise,[al] my beloved! Come, my beauty![am]
11 For look! The winter is over;
the rainy season[an] has turned and gone away.[ao]
12 The blossoms appear[ap] in the land;[aq]
the time of singing[ar] has arrived;[as]
the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree puts forth her figs,
and the vines are in blossom; they give fragrance.
Arise,[at] my beloved! Come, my beauty!”[au]
14 My dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the secluded place[av][aw] in the mountain,[ax][ay]
Let me see your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.
15 Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes destroying vineyards,
for[az] our vineyards are in blossom!
Poetic Refrain(s)
16 My beloved belongs to me and I belong to him;[ba]
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
17 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved!
Be like[bb] a gazelle[bc] or young stag[bd] on the cleft mountains.[be]
Maiden’s Dream (?): Seeking and Finding
3 On my bed in the night,
I sought[bf] him whom my heart[bg] loves.
I sought him, but I did not find him.
2 Now I will arise, and I will go about in the city,
in the streets and in the squares;
I will seek him whom my heart[bh] loves.
I sought him, but I did not find him.
3 The sentinels who go about in the city found me.
“Have you seen the one whom my heart[bi] loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed[bj] by them
when I found him whom my heart[bk] loves.
I held him and I would not let him go
until I brought him to the house of my mother,
into the bedroom chamber of she who conceived me.
Adjuration Refrain
5 I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,[bl]
by the gazelles or by the does of the field,
do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases![bm]
Royal Wedding Procession
6 What is this coming up from the desert
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense
from all the fragrant powders of the merchant?
7 Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch![bn]
Sixty mighty men surround it,[bo]
the mighty men of Israel.
8 All of them wield swords;[bp]
they are trained in warfare,[bq]
each with his sword at his thigh
to guard against terror[br] in the night.
9 King Solomon[bs] made for himself a sedan chair
from the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its column of silver, its back[bt] of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior is inlaid with leather[bu] by the maidens of Jerusalem.[bv]
11 Come out and look, O maidens of Zion,[bw] at King Solomon,[bx]
at the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the joy of his heart!
Paul’s Ministry Recognized by the Jerusalem Apostles
2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking along Titus also. 2 Now I went up there because of a revelation and laid out to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles, but in private to the influential people, lest somehow I was running, or had run, in vain. 3 But not even Titus who was with me, although[a] he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 Now this was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order that they might enslave us, 5 to whom not even for an hour did we yield in subjection, in order that the truth of the gospel might remain continually with you. 6 But from those who were influential[b] (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me, God does not show partiality[c])—for those who were influential added nothing to me. 7 But these, when they[d] saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcision, just as Peter to the circumcision 8 (for the one who was at work through Peter for his apostleship to the circumcision was at work also through me for the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John—those thought to be pillars—acknowledged the grace given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, in order that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcision. 10 They asked only that we should remember the poor, the very thing I was also eager to do.
Paul Confronts Peter at Antioch
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was condemned. 12 For before certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles, but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he[e] was afraid of those who were of the circumcision, 13 and the rest of the Jews also joined in this hypocrisy with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with them in their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not being straightforward with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of them all, “If you, although you[f] are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Justified by Faith in Christ
15 We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles, 16 but knowing that a person is not justified by the works of the law, if not by faith in Jesus Christ,[g] and we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ[h] and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified[i]. 17 But if while seeking to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also have been found to be sinners, then is Christ an agent of sin? May it never be! 18 For if I build up again these things which I destroyed, I show myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, in order that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, 20 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not declare invalid the grace of God, for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died to no purpose.
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