Old/New Testament
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned
that we may seek him with you?
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the garden bed of the spice,
to pasture his flock and to gather lilies in the garden.
Mutual Possession Refrain
3 I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me;[a]
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
Solomon’s Praise of His Beloved
4 You are beautiful, my beloved, as Tirzah,
lovely as Jerusalem,
overwhelming as an army with banners.[b]
5 Turn away your eyes from before me,
for they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of the goats
that moves down from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of the ewes
that have come up from the washing,
all of them bearing twins,
and there is none bereaved among them.
7 Your cheeks behind[c] your veil
are like halves of a pomegranate.
The Maiden’s Beauty Is without Peer
8 Sixty queens there are, eighty concubines,
and maidens beyond number.
9 My dove, she is the one;[d][e]
my perfect, she is the only one;[f][g]
she is the favorite of[h][i] her mother who bore her.
Maidens see her and consider her fortunate;[j]
queens and concubines praise her:
10 “Who is this that looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,[k][l]
overwhelming as an army with banners?”[m]
The Journey to the Valley
11 I went down to the orchard of the walnut trees
to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines have sprouted,
whether the pomegranates have blossomed.
12 I did not know my heart[n] set me
in a chariot of my princely people.[o]
13 [p] Turn, turn,[q] O Shulammite![r]
Turn, turn[s] so that we may look upon you!
Why do you look upon the Shulammite
as at a dance of the two armies?
Solomon’s Praise of His Dancing Maiden
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O royal princess![t]
The curves of your thighs[u] are like jewels,[v]
the work of the hands of a craftsman.
2 Your navel is a round wine-mixing bowl[w]
that does not lack mixed[x] wine!
Your belly is a heap of wheat
encircled with lilies.
3 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory;
your eyes are pools in Heshbon at the gate of Beth Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
looking out over Damascus.[y]
5 Your head crowns you like Carmel;[z][aa]
the flowing locks of your head are like purple tapestry;[ab]
a king is held captive in the tresses!
6 How beautiful you are and how pleasant,
O loved one in the delights!
7 Your stature[ac] is like the palm tree,
and your breasts are like clusters.
8 I say, “I will climb up the palm tree;
I will lay hold of its fruit clusters.”
Let your breasts be pleasing like clusters of the vine
and the scent of your breath like the apples.
9 Your palate is like the best wine that goes down for my beloved,
smoothly gliding over my lips and teeth.[ad]
Mutual Possession Refrain
Rendezvous in the Countryside
11 Come, my beloved, let us go out to the countryside;[ag]
let us spend the night[ah] in the villages.
12 Let us rise early to go[ai] to the vineyards;
let us see whether the vine has budded,[aj]
whether the grape blossom has opened,
and whether the pomegranates are in bloom;[ak]
there I will give my love to you.
13 The mandrakes give off their fragrance,
and over our doorway is every kind of delicious fruit;[al]
both fresh and dried fruit I have stored up[am] for you, O my beloved.
Maiden’s Fanciful Wish
8 How I wish that you were my little brother,[an][ao]
who nursed upon my mother’s breasts![ap]
If I met you outside,[aq] I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me![ar]
2 I would surely bring you[as][at] to the house of my mother,
who would surely teach me;[au]
I would give you spiced wine to drink,[av]
the sweet wine[aw] of my pomegranates.[ax]
Double Refrain: Embrace and Adjuration
3 His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces[ay] me.
4 I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,[az]
do not[ba] arouse or awaken love until it pleases![bb]
Up from the Wilderness and under the Apple Tree
5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you;
there your mother conceived you;[bc]
there she who was in labor gave birth to you.
The Nature of Genuine Romantic Love
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death;
passion is fierce as Sheol;
its flashes are flashes of fire;
it is a blazing flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.[bd]
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,[be]
he would be utterly scorned.[bf]
Maiden’s Virtuous Chastity and Voluptuous Beauty
8 We have a little sister,[bg]
and she does not yet have any breasts.[bh]
What should we do for our sister
on the day when she is betrothed?[bi][bj]
9 If she is a wall,
we will adorn her with a turret of silver;[bk][bl]
but if she is a door,
we will barricade her with boards of cedar.[bm]
10 I was a wall, and my breasts were like the towers,
so my betrothed viewed me with great delight.[bn]
Solomon’s Vineyard and the Maiden’s Gift
11 Solomon had a vineyard[bo] at Baal-hamon;
he entrusted his vineyard to the keepers;[bp]
people paid a thousand silver pieces for its fruit.[bq]
12 My own “vineyard” belongs to me;[br]
the “thousand” are for you, O Solomon,
and “two hundred” for those who tend its fruit.[bs]
Closing Words of Mutual Love
No Longer Slaves But Sons and Heirs
4 Now I say, for as long a time as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he[a] is master of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the time set by his father. 3 So also we, when we were children, we were enslaved under the elemental spirits of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order that he might redeem those under the law, in order that we might receive the adoption. 6 And because you are sons, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba![b] (Father!),” 7 so that you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, also an heir through God.
Do Not Be Enslaved Again
8 But at that time when you[c] did not know God, you were enslaved to the things which by nature are not gods. 9 But now, because you have come to know God, or rather have come to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to be enslaved to them[d] all over again? 10 You carefully observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest perhaps I have labored for you in vain! 12 I ask you, brothers, become like me, because I also have become like you. You have done me no wrong!
Paul’s Personal Appeal
13 But you know that because of an illness of the flesh I proclaimed the gospel to you the first time. 14 And you did not despise or disdain what was a trial for you in my flesh, but you welcomed me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus. 15 So where is your blessing? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me! 16 So then, have I become your enemy by[e] being truthful to you? 17 They zealously seek you, not commendably, but they want to exclude you, in order that you may seek them zealously. 18 But it is good to be sought zealously in good at all times, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My children, for whom I am having birth pains again, until Christ is formed in you! 20 But I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone because I am perplexed about you.
Hagar and Sarah Represent Two Covenants
21 Tell me, you who are wanting to be under the law, do you not understand[f] the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the female slave and one by the free woman. 23 But the one by the female slave was born according to human descent, and the one by the free woman through the promise, 24 which things are spoken allegorically, for these women are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery, who is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is a slave with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother. 27 For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren woman, who does not give birth to children;
burst out and shout, you who do not have birth pains,
because many are the children of the desolate woman,
even more than those of the one who has a husband.”[g]
28 But you, brothers, are children of the promise, just as Isaac. 29 But just as at that time the child born according to human descent persecuted the child born according to the Spirit, so also now. 30 But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the female slave and her son, for the son of the female slave will never inherit with the son”[h] of the free woman. 31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the female slave but of the free woman.
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