Old/New Testament
1 This is the greatest song Solomon ever wrote.
A Shulammite woman says to King Solomon
2 “I long for your lips to kiss me!
Your love makes me happier than wine does.
3 The lotion you have on pleases me.
Your name is like perfume that is poured out.
No wonder the young women love you!
4 Take me away with you. Let us hurry!
King Solomon, bring me into your palace.”
The other women say
“King Solomon, you fill us with joy. You make us happy.
We praise your love more than we praise wine.”
The woman says to the king
“It is right for them to love you!
5 “Women of Jerusalem,
my skin is dark but lovely.
It is dark like the tents in Kedar.
It’s like the curtains of Solomon’s tent.
6 Don’t stare at me because I’m dark.
The sun has made my skin look like this.
My brothers were angry with me.
They made me take care of the vineyards.
I haven’t even taken care of my own vineyard.
7 “King Solomon, I love you.
So tell me where you take care of your flock.
Tell me where you rest your sheep at noon.
Why should I have to act like a prostitute
near the flocks of your friends?”
The other women say
8 “You are the most beautiful woman of all.
Don’t you know where to find the king?
Follow the tracks the sheep make.
Take care of your young goats
near the tents of the shepherds.”
King Solomon says to the Shulammite woman
9 “You are my love.
You are like a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.
10 Your earrings make your cheeks even more beautiful.
Your strings of jewels make your neck even more lovely.
11 We will make gold earrings for you.
We’ll decorate them with silver.”
The woman says
12 “The king was at his table.
My perfume gave off a sweet smell.
13 The one who loves me is like a small bag of myrrh
resting between my breasts.
14 He is like henna flowers
from the vineyards of En Gedi.”
The king says
15 “You are so beautiful, my love!
So beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves.”
The woman says
16 “You are so handsome, my love!
So charming!
The green field is our bed.”
The king says
17 “Cedar trees above us are the beams of our house.
Fir trees overhead are its rafters.”
The woman says
2 “I am like a rose on the coast of Sharon.
I’m like a lily in the valleys.”
The king says
2 “My love, among the young women
you are like a lily among thorns.”
The woman says
3 “My love, among the young men
you are like an apple tree among the trees of the forest.
I’m happy to sit in your shade.
Your fruit tastes so sweet to me.
4 Lead me to the dinner hall.
Let your banner of love be lifted high above me.
5 Give me some raisins to make me strong.
Give me some apples to make me feel like new again.
Our love has made me weak.
6 Your left arm is under my head.
Your right arm is around me.
7 Women of Jerusalem, make me a promise.
Let the antelopes and the does serve as witnesses.
Don’t stir up love.
Don’t wake it up until it’s ready.
8 “Listen! I hear my love!
Look! Here he comes!
He’s leaping across the mountains.
He’s coming over the hills.
9 The one who loves me is like an antelope or a young deer.
Look! There he stands behind our wall.
He’s gazing through the window.
He’s peering through the screen.
10 He said to me, ‘Rise up, my love.
Come with me, my beautiful one.
11 Look! The winter is past.
The rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers are appearing on the earth.
The season for singing has come.
The cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig trees are producing their early fruit.
The flowers on the vines are giving off their sweet smell.
Rise up and come, my love.
Come with me, my beautiful one.’ ”
The king says
14 “You are like a dove in an opening in the rocks.
You are like a dove in a hiding place on a mountainside.
Show me your face.
Let me hear your voice.
Your voice is so sweet.
Your face is so lovely.
15 Catch the foxes for us.
Catch the little foxes.
They destroy our vineyards.
The vineyards are in bloom.”
The woman says
16 “My love belongs to me, and I belong to him.
Like an antelope, he eats among the lilies.
17 Until the day begins
and the shadows fade away,
turn to me, my love.
Be like an antelope
or like a young deer
on the rocky hills.
3 “All night long on my bed
I searched for the one my heart loves.
I looked for him but didn’t find him.
2 I will get up and go around in the city.
I’ll look through all of its streets.
I’ll search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but didn’t find him.
3 Those on guard duty found me
as they were walking around in the city.
‘Have you seen the one my heart loves?’ I asked.
4 As soon as I had passed by them
I found the one my heart loves.
I threw my arms around him and didn’t let him go
until I had brought him to my mother’s house.
I took him to my mother’s room.
5 Women of Jerusalem, make me a promise.
Let the antelopes and the does serve as witnesses.
Don’t stir up love.
Don’t wake it up until it’s ready.
6 “Who is this man coming up from the desert
like a column of smoke?
He smells like myrrh and incense
made from all the spices of the trader.
7 Look! There’s Solomon’s movable throne.
Sixty soldiers accompany it.
They have been chosen from the best warriors in Israel.
8 All of them are wearing swords.
They have fought many battles.
Each one has his sword at his side.
Each is prepared for the terrors of the night.
9 King Solomon made the movable throne for himself.
He made it out of wood from Lebanon.
10 He formed its posts out of silver.
He made its base out of gold.
Its seat was covered with purple cloth.
It was decorated inside with love.
Women of Jerusalem, 11 come out.
“Look, you women of Zion.
Look at King Solomon wearing his crown.
His mother placed it on him.
She did it on his wedding day.
His heart was full of joy.”
Paul Is Accepted by the Apostles
2 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem. This time I went with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went because God showed me what he wanted me to do. I spoke in private to those who are respected as leaders. I told them the good news that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t running my race for no purpose. And I wanted to know that I had not been running my race for no purpose. 3 Titus was with me. He was a Greek. But even he was not forced to be circumcised. 4 This matter came up because some people had slipped in among us. They had pretended to be believers. They wanted to find out about the freedom we have because we belong to Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves again. 5 We didn’t give in to them for a moment. We did this so that the truth of the good news would be kept safe for you.
6 Some people in Jerusalem were thought to be important. But it makes no difference to me what they were. God does not treat people differently. Those people added nothing to my message. 7 In fact, it was just the opposite. They recognized the task I had been trusted with. It was the task of preaching the good news to the Gentiles. My task was like Peter’s task. He had been trusted with the task of preaching to the Jews. 8 God was working in Peter as an apostle to the Jews. God was also working in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter and John are respected as pillars in the church. They recognized the special grace given to me. So they shook my hand and the hand of Barnabas. They wanted to show they accepted us. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles. They would go to the Jews. 10 They asked only one thing. They wanted us to continue to remember poor people. That was what I had wanted to do all along.
Paul Opposes Peter
11 When Peter came to Antioch, I told him to his face that I was against what he was doing. He was clearly wrong. 12 He used to eat with the Gentiles. But certain men came from a group sent by James. When they arrived, Peter began to draw back. He separated himself from the Gentiles. That’s because he was afraid of the circumcision group sent by James. 13 Peter’s actions were not honest, and other Jews in Antioch joined him. Even Barnabas was led astray.
14 I saw what they were doing. It was not in line with the truth of the good news. So I spoke to Peter in front of them all. “You are a Jew,” I said. “But you live like one who is not. So why do you force Gentiles to follow Jewish ways?”
15 We are Jews by birth. We are not sinful Gentiles. 16 Here is what we know. No one is made right with God by obeying the law. It is by believing in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus. This is so we can be made right with God by believing in Christ. We are not made right by obeying the law. That’s because no one can be made right with God by obeying the law.
17 We are seeking to be made right with God through Christ. As we do, what if we find that we who are Jews are also sinners? Does that mean that Christ causes us to sin? Certainly not! 18 Suppose I build again what I had destroyed. Then I would really be breaking the law.
19 By the law, I died as far as the law is concerned. I died so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. I don’t live any longer, but Christ lives in me. Now I live my life in my body by faith in the Son of God. He loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not get rid of the grace of God. What if a person could become right with God by obeying the law? Then Christ died for nothing!
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