Old/New Testament
The Lover
4 Look at you! You are beautiful, my darling.
Look at you! You are so beautiful.
Your eyes behind your veil are doves,
your hair is like a flock of goats
coming down from Mt. Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep about to be sheared,[a]
who are coming up from being washed.[b]
All of them are twins,
not one has lost[c] her young.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
and your mouth is lovely.
Behind your veil,
your temple is like a slice of pomegranate.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David,
built with rows of stones.
A thousand shields are hung upon it,
all the shields of the warriors.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
6 Until the day breaks[d] and the shadows flee,
I’ll go to the mountain of myrrh[e]
and to the hill of frankincense.[f]
7 My darling, you are altogether beautiful
and there is no blemish in you.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
come with me from Lebanon.
May you journey from the top of Amana,
from the tops of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountain lairs of leopards.
9 You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my[g] bride.
You have made my heart beat faster
with one glance of your eyes,
with one strand of your necklace.
10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my[h] bride.
How much better is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume
than all kinds of spices.
11 Your lips drip honey, my[i] bride;
milk and honey are under your tongue.
The scent of your garments
is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 My sister, my[j] bride, is a locked garden
a locked rock garden, a sealed up spring.
13 Your shoots are an orchard[k] of pomegranates,
with choice fruit, henna with nard,
14 nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,
with all the trees of frankincense,
along with myrrh and aloes, and all the finest spices.[l]
15 You are a garden spring,
a well of fresh water,
streams flowing from Lebanon.
The Loved One
16 Awake, north wind, and come, south wind.
Make my garden breathe out,
let its fragrance[m] flow.
Let my beloved come into his garden,
and let him eat its choicest fruits.
The Lover
5 I’ve come into my garden, my sister, my[n] bride;
I’ve gathered my myrrh with my spices.
I’ve eaten my honeycomb with my honey.
I’ve drunk my wine with my milk.
Eat, friends!
Drink and become drunk with love.
The Loved One
2 I was asleep, but my heart was awake.
There’s a sound! My beloved is knocking.
The Lover
“Open up for me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my perfect one.
For my head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night.”
The Loved One
3 “I’ve taken off my clothes[o]—
am I supposed to put them on again?[p]
I’ve washed my feet—
am I supposed to[q] get them dirty again?”
4 My beloved reached out his hand for the latch.[r]
My feelings for him were aroused.
5 I got up to open the door,[s]
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
on the handle of the lock.
6 I opened the door[t] for my beloved,
but my beloved had turned away; he was gone!
My very life went out when he departed.[u]
I searched for him,
but couldn’t find him.
I called out to him,
but he didn’t answer.
7 The watchmen making their[v] rounds
through the city found me.
They beat me, they bruised me.
Those guarding the walls took my cloak[w] from me.
8 I charge you, young women of Jerusalem,
“If you find my beloved, what are you to tell him?
Tell him[x] that I’m weak with love.”
The Young Women
9 What is so special about your beloved,[y]
most beautiful of women?
What is so special about your beloved,
that you charge us like this?
The Loved One
10 My beloved is dazzling,
with a dark and healthy complexion,
outstanding among ten thousand.
11 His head is pure gold,
his hair is wavy, black like a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves
by streams of water,
bathed in milk,
mounted like jewels.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spices,
like towers of perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with liquid myrrh.
14 His hands are rods of gold,
set with beryl.
His stomach is carved ivory,
inlaid with sapphires.[z]
15 His legs are pillars of marble
set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice like its cedars.
16 His mouth[aa] is sweetness,
and all of him is desirable.
This is my beloved, this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem!
Believers are Approved by God
3 You foolish Galatians! Who put you under a spell? Was not Jesus the Messiah[a] clearly portrayed before your very eyes as having been crucified? 2 I want to learn only one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by doing[b] the actions of the Law or by believing what you heard?[c] 3 Are you so foolish? Having started out with the Spirit, are you now ending up with the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so much for nothing? (If it really was for nothing!) 5 Does God[d] supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do the actions[e] of the Law or because you believe what you heard?[f] 6 In the same way, Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[g]
7 You see, then, that those who have faith are Abraham’s real descendants. 8 Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the gentiles[h] by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, “Through you all nations[i] will be blessed.”[j] 9 Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the one who believed.
No One is Justified by the Law
10 Certainly all who depend on the actions of the Law are under a curse. For it is written, “A curse on everyone who does not obey everything that is written in the Book of the Law!”[k] 11 Now it is obvious that no one is justified in the sight of God by the Law, because “The righteous will live by faith.”[l] 12 But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, “The person who keeps the commandments[m] will have life in them.”[n] 13 The Messiah[o] redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, “A curse on everyone who is hung on a tree!”[p] 14 This happened[q] in order that the blessing promised to[r] Abraham would come to the gentiles through the Messiah[s] Jesus, so that we might receive the promised Spirit[t] through faith.
15 Brothers, let me use an example from everyday life.[u] Once an agreement[v] has been ratified, no one can cancel it or add conditions to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn’t say “descendants,” referring to many, but “your descendant,”[w] referring to one person, who is the Messiah.[x] 17 This is what I mean: The Law that came 430 years later did not cancel the covenant that God ratified previously. The promise was never nullified. 18 For if the inheritance comes about through the Law, it no longer comes about through the promise. But it was through a promise that God so graciously gave it to Abraham.
The Purpose of the Law
19 Why, then, was the Law added?[y] Because of transgressions, until the descendant[z] came to whom the promise pertained. It was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one. 21 So is the Law in conflict with the promises of God? Of course not! For if a law had been given that could give us life, then certainly righteousness would come through the Law. 22 But the Scripture has captured everything by means of sin’s net, so that what was promised by the faithfulness of[aa] the Messiah[ab] might be granted to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came about, we were held in custody and confined under the Law in preparation for the faith that was to be revealed. 24 And so the Law was our guardian until the Messiah[ac] came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come about, we are no longer under a guardian.
You are God’s Children
26 For all of you are God’s children through faith in the Messiah[ad] Jesus. 27 Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiah[ae] have clothed yourselves with the Messiah.[af] 28 Because all of you are one in the Messiah[ag] Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female. 29 And if you belong to the Messiah,[ah] then you are Abraham’s descendants indeed, and heirs according to the promise.
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