Old/New Testament
1 Solomon’s Song of Songs [C the best of songs and a song composed of many songs].
The Woman Speaks to the Man She Loves
2 Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth,
because your love is better than wine [C makes one light-headed].
3 The ·smell [scent] of your ·perfume [cologne; L oil] is ·pleasant [wonderful],
and your ·name [reputation] is pleasant like ·expensive [or poured out] ·perfume [cologne; L oil].
That’s why the young women love you.
4 ·Take me with [L Draw me after] you; let’s run together.
The king takes me into his ·rooms [bedroom; inner chamber].
Friends Speak to the Man
We will rejoice and be happy with you;
we praise your love more than wine [v. 2].
With good reason, the young women love you.
The Woman Speaks
5 I’m dark ·but [or and] ·lovely [beautiful; C she was out in the sun because her brothers forced her to work the fields; v. 6],
·women [L daughters] of Jerusalem [C her friends whom she is instructing about love],
dark like the tents of Kedar [C desert nomads; Gen. 25:13; Jer. 49:28–29],
like the curtains of ·Solomon [or Salma; C south Arabian desert nomads].
6 Don’t look at how ·dark [swarthy] I am,
·at how dark the sun has made me [L because the sun scorched me].
My ·brothers [L mother’s sons] were angry with me
and made me ·tend [or guard] the vineyards,
so I haven’t ·tended [or guarded] my own ·vineyard [C referring to her body]!
7 Tell me, you whom I love,
where do you ·feed your sheep [graze]?
Where do you let them ·rest [lie down] at noon?
Why should I look for you near your friend’s sheep,
like a woman who wears a veil [C like a prostitute going tent to tent; Gen. 38:14–15]?
The Man Speaks to the Woman
8 You are the most beautiful of women.
Surely you know to follow the tracks of the sheep
and feed your young goats
near the shepherds’ tents.
9 My darling, you are like a mare
among the ·king’s [L Pharaoh’s] stallions [C driving them crazy with desire].
10 Your cheeks are beautiful ·with ornaments [L between earrings],
and your neck with ·jewels [a necklace].
11 We will make for you gold earrings
with silver ·hooks [studs].
The Woman Speaks
12 The smell of my ·perfume [nard] spreads out
to the king on his couch.
13 My lover is like a ·bag [sachet] of myrrh
that ·lies all night [lodges] between my breasts [C intimately].
14 My lover is like a ·bunch [cluster] of ·flowers [L henna blossoms; C pleasant smelling and used to dye hair red]
from the vineyards at En Gedi [C a romantic location with a waterfall near the Dead Sea].
The Man Speaks
15 My darling, you are beautiful!
Oh, you are beautiful,
and your eyes are like doves [C perhaps fluttering or a reference to softness and beauty].
The Woman Answers the Man
16 You are so handsome, my lover,
and so ·pleasant [or lovely]!
Our bed is ·the grass [green].
17 Cedar trees form ·our roof [L the boards of our house];
our ·ceiling [rafters] is made of juniper wood [C they find intimacy outdoors].
The Woman Speaks Again
2 I am a ·rose [or flower] in the Plain of Sharon [C a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast],
a lily in the valleys [C she claims to be ordinary].
The Man Speaks Again
2 Among the ·young women [girls], my darling
is like a lily among thorns [C she is extraordinarily beautiful]!
The Woman Answers
3 Among the ·young men [boys], my lover
is like an apple tree ·in the woods [L among the trees of the forest; C he is extraordinary; the apple tree is fruitful and pleasant smelling]!
I ·enjoy sitting in [desire] his ·shadow [shade];
his fruit is sweet to my ·taste [palate].
4 He brought me to the ·banquet room [L house of wine],
and his banner over me is love [C his love for her is well known].
5 Strengthen me with ·raisins [raisin cakes],
and refresh me with apples [C considered aphrodisiacs],
because I am ·weak [faint] with love.
6 My lover’s left hand is under my head,
and his right arm ·holds me tight [embraces me; 8:3].
The Woman Speaks to the Friends
7 ·Women [L Daughters] of Jerusalem [1:5], ·promise me [I adjure you]
by the gazelles and the deer of the field [C in Hebrew sounds like “by the (Lord) of Hosts” or “by God Almighty”]
not to awaken
or ·excite [arouse] love
until it ·is ready [so desires; C likely a warning to the women to wait for love until the right person comes along; 3:5; 8:4].
The Woman Speaks Again
8 I hear ·my lover’s voice [the sound of my lover].
Here he comes ·jumping [leaping] across the mountains,
·skipping [bounding] over the hills [C he moves with agile grace and speed].
9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young ·deer [stag].
Look, he stands behind our wall
·peeking [staring] through the windows,
looking through the ·blinds [lattice].
10 My lover spoke and said to me,
“·Get [Rise] up, my darling;
let’s go away, my beautiful one.
11 Look, the winter is past;
the rains are over and gone [C spring has arrived, the time of love].
12 Blossoms appear through all the land.
The time has come to sing;
the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
13 There are young figs ·on [L ripening on] the fig trees,
and the blossoms on the vines ·smell sweet [L spread their fragrance].
·Get [Rise] up, my darling;
let’s go away, my beautiful one.”
The Man Speaks
14 My beloved is like a dove hiding in the ·cracks [crevices] of the rock,
in the ·secret [hiding] places of the cliff.
·Show me [Let me see] your ·face [L form],
and let me hear your voice.
Your voice is ·sweet [agreeable],
and your ·face [form] is ·lovely [pleasant].
15 ·Catch [Grab] the foxes for us—
the little foxes that ruin the vineyards
while they are in blossom [C threats to the relationship].
The Woman Speaks
16 My lover is mine, and I am his [6:3; 7:11].
He ·feeds [grazes] among the lilies
17 until the day dawns
and the shadows ·disappear [flee].
Turn, my lover.
Be like a gazelle or a young ·deer [stag]
on the ·mountain valleys [or the mountains of Bether].
The Woman Dreams
3 ·At night [or During many nights] on my bed,
I ·looked [searched] for the one ·I love [my soul loves];
I ·looked [searched] for him, but I could not find him.
2 I ·got [rose] up and went around the city,
in the streets and ·squares [public areas],
·looking [searching] for the one ·I love [my soul loves].
I ·looked [searched] for him, but I could not find him.
3 The ·watchmen [guards; C ancient equivalent to the police] found me as they patrolled the city,
so I asked, “Have you seen the one ·I love [L my soul loves]?”
4 ·As soon as [or A little while after] I had left them,
I found the one ·I love [L my soul loves].
I ·held [seized; grabbed] him and would not let him go
until I brought him to my mother’s house,
to the room where ·I was born [L she conceived me; 8:2].
The Woman Speaks to the Friends
5 ·Women [L Daughters] of Jerusalem [1:5], ·promise me [I adjure you]
by the gazelles and the deer of the field [C in Hebrew sounds like “by the (Lord) of Hosts” or “by God Almighty”]
not to awaken
or ·excite [arouse] love
until it ·is ready [so desires; C likely a warning to the women to wait for love until the right person comes along; 2:7; 8:4].
6 ·Who [or What] is this coming out of the ·desert [wilderness]
like a ·cloud [pillar] of smoke?
·Who is this that smells like [L …perfumed with] myrrh, ·incense [frankincense],
and ·other spices [L from all the scented powders of the trader]?
7 Look, it’s Solomon’s ·couch [palanquin; litter; C a bed carried by servants]
with sixty soldiers around it,
the ·finest soldiers [heroes; mighty men] of Israel.
8 These soldiers all carry swords
and have been trained in war.
Every man wears a sword at his ·side [thigh]
and is ready for the dangers of the night.
9 King Solomon had a ·couch [litter; v. 7] made for himself
of wood from Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver
and its ·braces [canopy] of gold.
The seat was covered with purple [C the color of royalty] cloth
that the ·women [L daughters] of Jerusalem [1:5] ·wove [inlaid its interior] with love.
11 ·Women [L Daughters] of ·Jerusalem [L Zion; 1:5], go out and see King Solomon.
He is wearing the crown his mother put on his head
on his wedding day,
when his heart was happy!
Other Apostles Accepted Paul
2 [L Then] After fourteen years I went to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas [Acts 4:36; 9:26–27; 11:22, 25, 30; 13:2–4; 15:36–39]. I also took Titus [2 Cor. 2:13; Titus 1:4–5] with me. 2 I went because ·God showed me I should go [L of a revelation]. There I met in private with ·the leaders of the church [or those who seemed to be leaders; or the prominent/influential ones] and I ·told [presented to; set before] them the ·Good News [Gospel] that I preach to the Gentiles. ·I did not want my past work and the work I am now doing to be wasted [L …to make sure I was not running or had run in vain]. 3 Titus was with me, but he was not ·forced [compelled] to be circumcised [Gen. 17], even though he was a Greek. 4 ·We talked about this problem [This issue arose] because some false ·believers [L brothers] had come into our group secretly. They came in ·like spies to overturn [to sabotage; L to spy on] the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves. 5 But we did not give in to ·those false believers [L them] for a minute, so that the truth of the ·Good News [Gospel] would ·continue [be preserved; not be compromised] for you.
6 Those leaders who ·seemed to be important [or were prominent/influential] did not ·change the Good News that I preach [or add anything to my message]. (It doesn’t matter to me if they were ·“important” [prominent; influential] or not. To God everyone is the same.) 7 But these leaders saw that I had been ·given the work of telling the Good News [L entrusted with the Gospel] to the ·Gentiles [non-Jewish people; L uncircumcised], just as Peter ·had the work of telling the Jews [L to the circumcised]. 8 [L For] ·God [L The one] who gave Peter the power to work as an apostle for the ·Jewish people [L circumcised] also gave me the power to work as an apostle for the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be ·the leaders [L pillars], ·understood [recognized; acknowledged] that God had given me this special grace, so they ·accepted [shook hands in partnership with; L gave the right hand of fellowship/partnership to] Barnabas and me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they would go to the ·Jewish people [L circumcised]. 10 The only thing they asked us was to remember to help the poor [C meaning especially the poor believers in Jerusalem; Acts 11:27–30]—something I ·really wanted [myself was eager/zealous] to do.
Paul Shows that Peter Was Wrong
11 [L But] When ·Peter [L Cephas; C Peter’s name in Aramaic; 1:18] came to Antioch, I challenged him to his face, because he ·was wrong [L stood condemned]. 12 [L For; Because] ·Peter [L He] ate with the Gentiles until ·some Jewish people [L certain people] sent from James [1:19] came to Antioch [C a major city in Syria]. When they arrived, Peter ·stopped eating with those who weren’t Jewish [L backed off; withdrew], and he separated himself from them. […because] He was afraid of the ·Jews [circumcised; or the pro-circumcision group]. 13 Then the rest of the ·Jewish believers [L Jews] joined him in this hypocrisy. Even Barnabas was ·influenced [swept along; carried away] by their hypocrisy. 14 [L But] When I saw they were not ·following [acting in line with] the truth of the ·Good News [Gospel], I spoke to ·Peter [L Cephas; v. 11] in front of them all. I said, “You are a Jew, but you are living like a Gentile and not a Jew. So how can you now try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?”
15 We were not born as Gentile “sinners,” but as Jews. 16 Yet we know that a person is ·made right with God [justified; declared righteous] not by ·following [L the works of] the law, but by ·trusting in [faith in; or the faithfulness of] Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be ·made right with God [justified; declared righteous] ·because we trusted in [through faith in; or because of the faithfulness of] Christ. It is not ·because we followed [L by the works of] the law, because no ·one [human being; L flesh] can be ·made right with God [justified; declared righteous] by ·following [L the works of] the law.
17 ·We Jews came to Christ, trying to be made right with God, and it became clear that we are sinners, too [or But if we ourselves, also, by seeking to be justified in Christ, were found to be sinners…]. Does this mean that Christ ·encourages [L is a servant/minister of] sin? ·No [Absolutely not; May it never be]! 18 But I would ·really be wrong [or prove myself to be a lawbreaker/sinner] ·to begin teaching again those things that I gave up [L if I rebuild those things I tore down; C dependance on the law for salvation]. 19 ·It was the law that put me to death [or Trying to keep the law condemned me to death; L For through the law I died to the law], and I died to the law so that I can now live for God [C no longer depending on the law for salvation, Paul now depends on God’s grace]. 20 I ·was put to death on the cross [L have been crucified] with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my ·body [flesh], but I live ·by faith in [or because of the faithfulness of] the Son of God who loved me and gave himself ·to save me [L for me; on my behalf]. 21 By saying these things I ·am not going against [L do not set aside/nullify] God’s grace. ·Just the opposite [L For…], if the law could make us right with God, then Christ’s death would be ·useless [in vain; for nothing].
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