Old/New Testament
6 Young Women of Jerusalem (to her): Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Do you know which direction he went
so we can help you find him?
They pass through many obstacles as they celebrate their union in different venues. Love is found in a garden or a parental home. Ecstasy comes in a dream or reality.
2 Her: Women of Jerusalem, I know where my love is.
My love has gone into his garden
Among the beds of aromatic spices,
like a gazelle grazing among his gardens
and a gardener gathering the lilies.
3 I belong to my love, and my love to me.
He feeds his flock among the lilies.
4 Him (to her): You are beautiful, my dear, as beautiful as Tirzah,
as lovely as Jerusalem,
as regal as an army beneath their banners.
5 Turn your eyes from me
because they overpower me as always.
Your hair moves as gracefully as a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Mount Gilead.
6 Your teeth are pearl white like a flock of sheep shorn,
fresh up from a wash.
Each is perfect and paired with another;
not one of them is lost.
7 Your cheeks are rosy and round beneath your veil,
like the halves of a pomegranate.
8 There may be 60 queens and 80 concubines—
there may be more virgins than can be counted—
9 But my dove, my perfect love is the only one for me,
the only daughter of her mother,
the pure and favored child to the one who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines praised her.
10 Young Women of Jerusalem: Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
as radiant as the full moon, as bright as sunlight,
as majestic as an army beneath their banners?
11 Her: I went down to walk among a stand of walnut trees,
to take in the new growth of the valley,
To see if the vines had budded
or the pomegranates were blooming.
12 Before I knew it, my passions set me before some chariots,
those belonging to my noble people.[a]
13 Young Women of Jerusalem: Come back, come back, O Shulammite!
Come back, come back to us, so that we can look upon you.
Him: Why should you look upon the Shulammite,
as you would stare at the dance of joyous victory at Mahanaim?
7 Him: Your feet are so beautiful,
perfectly fitted in sandals, noble daughter![b]
Your sculpted thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master hand.
2 Your hidden place is open to me like a goblet, perfect and round,
that never runs dry of blended wine;
Your waist is a mound of wheat—curved and white and fertile—
encircled by lilies.
3 Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is as stunning as an ivory tower;
your eyes shimmer like the pools in Heshbon
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is strong and proud like the tower of Lebanon,
which points toward Damascus.
5 Your head is as stately as Mount Carmel;
your hair shines like a tapestry of royal purple cloth—
the king is held captive by your locks.
6 How beautiful you are, my love, and how pleasing
In all your delightful and satisfying ways.
7 Your stature is as elegant as a date palm tree,
and your breasts are sweet, attractive, and round like clusters of its fruit.
8 I say, “I will climb the palm tree;
I will take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
the fragrance of your mouth[c] like fresh apples,
9 and may your kisses satisfy like the best wine.
Her: May the wine go down smoothly for my love,
flowing gently over his lips and teeth.[d]
10 I belong to my love,
and he has desire for me.
11 (to him) Come out into the fields, my love,
and there spend the night in the villages.
12 Let’s rise with the morning and go to the vineyards
to see if the vines have budded,
If their blossoms have opened,
and if the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes send out their seductive fragrance,
and the finest fruits wait at our doors—
New pleasures as well as old—
I have stored them up for you, my lover.
Why would she break the parallel language and say that he “has desire” for her instead of saying he “belongs” to her as she does to him? Certainly he does belong to her, now that they are intimately bound in covenant. Her words may be said in light of Genesis 3:16, the passage where God outlines humanity’s punishment for their first sin. There it is narrated that Eve is to have desire for her husband who will rule over her. What the woman has said here is the exact opposite of the post-sin marriage structure: it is the man who desires the woman. Therefore, the depiction of the marriage relationship in Song of Songs gives a glimpse of what marriage might have looked like prior to the first sin in Eden. God designed the relationship between husband and wife to be one of love, passion, and pleasure. This should be the ideal all couples strive for in their marriages as they work together to avoid sin in their lives.
8 Her (to him): If only you were like my brother, my love,
nursed at my mother’s breast!
Then we could show our affection in public.
I would kiss you, and no one would think anything of it.
Nobody would look down on me.
2 I would take you by the hand
and bring you to my mother’s house—
she has taught me to be a woman.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
and you could enjoy the juice of my pomegranates.
3 His left hand cradles my head,
and his right hand reaches out to embrace me.
4 (to the young women of Jerusalem) Heed my warning:
I charge you not to excite your love until it is ready.
Don’t stir a fire in your heart too soon, until it is ready to be satisfied.
Three times in this most beautiful song (2:7; 3:5; 8:4), the female lover encourages her friends not to stoke the fires of passion until the proper time. This is wise instruction because unbridled passion can be very satisfying or quite destructive. The woman is presumably reminding the royal harem of this proverb to hold off on sexual intimacy. The “young women of Jerusalem” is probably a reference to the concubines of the king and how they, like most women, want to experience true and lasting intimacy. The difficulty is that these women may only know one night with the king and have their dreams of deep relationship go unrequited.
5 Young Women of Jerusalem: Who is this woman coming up from the desert,
leaning on her love?
Her: Under the apple tree I roused your love for me,
in the place where your mother conceived you,
in the place where she gave birth to you.
6 Set me as a seal over your heart;
wear me as an emblem on your arm
For love is as strong as death,
and jealousy is as relentless as the grave.
Love flares up like a blazing fire, a very ardent flame.
7 No amount of water can quench love;
a raging flood cannot drown it out.
If a person tried to exchange all of his wealth for love,
then he would be surely rejected.
8 Young Women of Jerusalem: We have a little sister
whose breasts have not yet developed.
How shall we protect her
until the time when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build silver towers of protection;
If she is a door,
we will barricade the door with the strongest cedar.
10 Her: I was a wall,
and now my breasts are like towers;
At that time I found completeness and satisfaction in his eyes.
11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon;
he let farmers tend it and charged each a ransom for its produce—1,000 pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard is my own—mine to lend or mine to lease.
Solomon, you may have your 1,000;
Those who tend the fruit, your 200.
13 Him: You who dwell in the gardens,
whose friends are always attentive to your voice,
Let me hear it.
14 Her: Come quickly, my love.
Be like a gazelle or young stag on the mountains of spices.
4 Listen. I am going to explain how this all works: When a minor inherits an estate from his parents, although he is the owner of everything, he is the same as a slave. 2 Until the day set by his father, the minor is subject to the authorities or guardians whom his father put in charge. 3 It is like that with us; there was a time when we were like children held under the elemental powers of this world. 4 When the right time arrived, God sent His Son into this world (born of a woman, subject to the law) 5 to free those who, just like Him, were subject to the law. Ultimately He wanted us all to be adopted as sons and daughters. 6 Because you are now part of God’s family, He sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts; and the Spirit calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 You no longer have to live as a slave because you are a child of God. And since you are His child, God guarantees an inheritance is waiting for you.
“Abba” is an address spoken by children to their fathers expressing intimacy and respect. It would not be out-of-the-question to think of it as “Dad,” or “Daddy.”
8 During the time before you knew God, you were slaves to powers that are not gods at all. 9 But now, when you are just beginning to know the one True God—actually, He is showing how completely He knows you—how can you turn back to weak and worthless idols made by men, icons of these spiritual powers? Haven’t you endured enough bondage to these breathless idols? 10 You are observing particular days, months, festival seasons, and years; 11 you have me worried that I may have wasted my time laboring among you.
12 Brothers and sisters, I have become one of you. Now it’s your turn—become as I am. You have never wronged me. 13 Do you remember the first time I preached the good news to you? I was sick, and 14 I know my illness was a hardship to you, but you never drew back from me or scorned me. You cared for me as if I were a heavenly messenger of God, possibly as well as if I were the Anointed Jesus Himself! Don’t you remember? 15 What has happened to your joy and blessing? I tell you, the place was so thick with love that if it were possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and handed them to me. 16 And now, do I stand as your enemy because I tried to bless you with the truth? 17 I’ll tell you what these false brothers and sisters are counting on: your attention. They are ravenous for it. They are not acting honorably or in your best interests. They want to keep you away from the good news we proclaim so they can have you all to themselves. 18 Listen, there’s nothing wrong with zeal when you’re zealous for God’s good purpose. And what’s more, you don’t have to wait for me to be with you to seek the good. 19 My dear children, I feel the pains of birth upon me again, and I will continue in labor for you until the Anointed One is formed completely in you. 20 I wish I were there. This letter is really harsh, yet I am really perplexed by you.
21 Now it’s your turn to instruct me. All of you who want to live by the rules of the law, are you really listening to and heeding what the law teaches? Listen to this: 22 it’s recorded in the Scripture that Abraham was the father of two sons. One son was born to a slave woman, Hagar, and the other son was born to a free woman, Abraham’s wife, Sarah. 23 The slave woman’s son was born through only natural means, but the free woman’s son was born through a promise from God. 24 I’m using an allegory. Here’s the picture: these two women stand for two covenants. The first represents the covenant God made on Mount Sinai—this is Hagar, who gives birth to children of slavery. 25 Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and she stands for the Jerusalem we know now. She has lived in slavery along with her children. 26 But there is a Jerusalem we know above. She is free, and she is our mother. 27 Isaiah wrote,
Be glad, you who feel sterile and never gave birth!
Raise a joyful shout, childless woman, who never went into labor!
For the barren woman produces many children,
more than the one who has a husband.[a]
28 So you see now, brothers and sisters, you are children of the promise like Isaac. 29 The slave’s son, born through only what flesh could conceive, resented and persecuted the one born into the freedom of the Spirit. The slave’s son picked at Isaac, just as you are being picked at now. 30 So what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the slave and her son, for the slave’s son will never have a share of the inheritance coming to the son of the free woman.”[b] 31 So, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but sons and daughters of the free.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.