Old/New Testament
6 1 The Church assureth herself of the love of Christ. 3 The praises of the Church. 8 She is but one and undefiled.
1 My well-beloved is gone down into his [a]garden to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
2 I am my well-beloved’s, and my well-beloved is mine, who feedeth among the lilies.
3 Thou art beautiful, my love, as [b]Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
4 [c]Turn away thine eyes from me: for they overcome me: (A)thine hair is like a flock of goats, which look down from Gilead.
5 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep, which go up from the washing, which every one bring out twins, and none is barren among them.
6 Thy temples are within thy locks as a piece of a pomegranate.
7 There are [d]threescore Queens, and fourscore concubines, and of the damsels without number.
8 But my dove is alone, and my undefiled, she is the only daughter of her mother, and she is dear to her that bare her: the daughters have seen her, and counted her blessed: even the Queens and the concubines, and they have praised her.
9 [e]Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, pure as the sun, terrible as an army with banners!
10 I went down to the [f]garden of nuts, to see the fruits of the valley, to see if the vine budded, and if the pomegranates flourished.
11 [g]I knew nothing, my soul set me [h]as the chariots of my noble people.
12 Return, return, O [i]Shulamite, return: return that we may behold thee. What shall you see in the Shulamite, but as the company of an army?
7 1 The beauty of the Church in all her members. 10 She is assured of Christ’s love towards her.
1 How beautiful are thy [j]goings with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels: the work of the hand of a cunning workman.
2 Thy navel is as a round cup that wanteth not liquor: thy belly is as an heap of wheat compassed about with lilies.
3 [k]Thy two breasts are as two young roes that are twins.
4 Thy neck is like a tower of ivory; thine eyes are like the fish pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon that looketh toward Damascus.
5 Thine head upon thee is as scarlet, and the bush of thine head like purple: the king is tied [l]in the [m]rafters.
6 How fair art thou, and how pleasant art thou, O my love, in pleasures!
7 This thy stature is like a palm tree, and thy breasts like clusters.
8 I said, I will go up into the palm tree, I will take hold of her boughs: thy breasts shall now be like the clusters of the vine: and the savor of thy nose like apples,
9 And the roof of thy mouth like good wine, which goeth straight to my well-beloved, and causeth the lips of the ancient to speak.
10 [n]I am my well-beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.
11 Come my well-beloved, let us go forth into the field: let us remain in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vines, let us see if the [o]vine flourish, whither it hath budded the small grape, or whither the pomegranates flourish: there will I give thee my love.
13 The mandrakes have given a smell, and in our gates are all sweet things, new and old: my well-beloved, I have kept them for thee.
8 2 The Church will be taught by Christ. 3 She is upheld by him. 6 The vehement love wherewith Christ loveth her. 11 She is the vine that bringeth forth fruit to the spiritual Solomon, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Oh [p]that thou werest as my brother that sucked the breasts of my mother: I would find thee without, I would kiss thee, then they should not despise [q]thee.
2 I will lead thee and bring thee into my mother’s house: there thou shalt teach me: and I will cause thee to drink spiced wine, and new wine of the pomegranate.
3 [r]His left hand shall be under mine head, and his right hand shall embrace me.
4 [s]I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up, nor waken my love until she please.
5 (Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness, leaning upon her well-beloved?) I raised thee up under an apple tree: there the mother conceived thee: there she conceived that bare thee.
6 [t]Set me as a seal on thine heart, and as a signet upon thine arm: for love is strong as death: jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are fiery coals, and a vehement flame.
7 Much water cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, they would greatly contemn it.
8 [u]We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister when she shall be spoken for?
9 [v]If she be a wall, we will build upon her a silver palace: and if she be a door, we will keep her in with boards of cedar.
10 [w]I am a wall, and my breasts are as towers: then was I in his eyes as one that findeth peace.
11 [x]Solomon had a vine in Baal Hamon: he gave the vineyard unto keepers: everyone bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver.
12 But my vineyard which is mine, is before me: to thee, O Solomon, appertaineth a thousand pieces of silver, and two hundred to them that keep the fruit thereof.
13 O thou that dwellest in the [y]gardens, the companions hearken unto thy voice: cause me to hear it.
14 O my well-beloved, [z]flee away and be like unto the roe, or to the young hart upon the mountains of spices.
4 1 Being delivered from the bondage of the Law, 4 by Christ’s coming, who is the end thereof, 9 it is very absurd to slide back to beggarly ceremonies: 13 He calleth them again therefore to the purity of the doctrine of the Gospel, 21 confirming his discourse with a fine allegory.
1 Then [a]I say, that the heir as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all,
2 But is under tutors and governors, [b]until the time appointed of the Father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the [c]rudiments of the world.
4 [d]But when the [e]fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a [f]woman, and made under the Law,
5 That he might redeem them which were under the Law, that we (A)might receive the [g]adoption of the sons.
6 [h]And because ye are sons, God hath [i]sent forth the [j]Spirit of his Son into your hearts, which crieth, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore, thou art no more a [k]servant, but a son: now if thou be a son, thou art also the [l]heir of God through Christ.
8 [m]But even then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them, which by nature are not gods:
9 But now seeing ye know God, yea, rather are known of God, how turn ye again unto impotent and [n]beggarly rudiments, whereunto as from the beginning ye will be in bondage [o]again?
10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11 I am in fear of you, lest I have bestowed on you labor in vain.
12 [p]Be ye as I (for I am even as you) brethren, I beseech you: ye have not hurt me at all.
13 And ye know, how through [q]infirmity of the flesh, I preached the Gospel unto you at the first.
14 And the [r]trial of me which was in my flesh, ye despised not, neither abhorred: but ye received me as an Angel of God, yea, as [s]Christ Jesus.
15 [t]What was then your felicity? for I bear you record, that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them unto me.
16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
17 They are jealous over you [u]amiss: yea, they would exclude you, [v]that ye should altogether love them.
18 But it is a good thing to love [w]earnestly always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you,
19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.
20 And I would I were with you now, that I might [x]change my voice: for I am in doubt of you.
21 [y]Tell me, ye that [z]will be under the Law, do ye not hear the Law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, (B)one by a servant, and (C)one by a free woman.
23 But he which was of the servant, was born after the [aa]flesh: and he which was of the free woman, was born by [ab]promise.
24 By the which things another thing is meant: for [ac]these mothers are the [ad]two Testaments, the one which is Hagar of mount [ae]Sinai, which gendereth unto bondage.
25 (For Hagar or Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, and it [af]answered to Jerusalem which now is) and [ag]she is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem, which is [ah]above, is free: which is the mother of us all.
27 [ai]For it is written, (D)Rejoice thou barren that bearest no children: break forth, and cry, thou that travailest not: for the [aj]desolate hath many more children, than she which hath an husband.
28 (E)Therefore, brethren, we are after the [ak]manner of Isaac, children of the [al]promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the [am]flesh, persecuted him that was born after the [an]Spirit, even so it is now.
30 But what saith the Scripture? (F)Put out the servant and her son: for the son of the servant shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.
31 [ao]Then brethren, we are not children of the servant, but of the free woman.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.