Old/New Testament
Young Women
6 Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way has he[a] turned?
We will seek him with you.
Woman
2 My love has gone down to his garden,(A)
to beds of spice,(B)
to feed in the gardens(C)
and gather lilies.(D)
3 I am my love’s and my love is mine;(E)
he feeds among the lilies.
Man
4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners.(F)
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
for they captivate me.(G)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead.(H)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing.[b](I)
7 Behind your veil,(J)
your brow[c] is like a slice of pomegranate.
8 There are sixty queens
and eighty concubines(K)
and young women[d] without number.
9 But my dove,(L) my virtuous one, is unique;(M)
she is the favorite of her mother,
perfect to the one who gave her birth.
Women see her and declare her fortunate;(N)
queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:
10 Who is this(O) who shines like the dawn,
as beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners?(P)
Woman
11 I came down to the walnut grove
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines were budding(Q)
and the pomegranates blooming.
12 I didn’t know what was happening to me.
I felt like I was
in a chariot with a nobleman.[e]
Young Women
13 Come back, come back, Shulammite![f]
Come back, come back, that we may look at you!
Man
7 How beautiful are your sandaled feet, princess
The curves of your thighs are like jewelry,
the handiwork of a master.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl;
it never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a mound of wheat
surrounded by lilies.
3 Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.(U)
4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory,(V)
your eyes like pools in Heshbon
by Bath-rabbim’s gate.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
looking toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you[i] like Mount Carmel,
the hair of your head like purple cloth—
a king could be held captive(W) in your tresses.
6 How beautiful you are and how pleasant,(X)
my love, with such delights!
7 Your stature is like a palm tree;
your breasts are clusters of fruit.
8 I said, “I will climb the palm tree
and take hold of its fruit.”(Y)
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
and the fragrance of your breath like apricots.(Z)
9 Your mouth[j] is like fine wine(AA)—
Woman
flowing smoothly for my love,
gliding past my lips and teeth![k]
10 I am my love’s,
and his desire(AB) is for me.(AC)
11 Come, my love,
let’s go to the field;
let’s spend the night among the henna blossoms.[l]
12 Let’s go early to the vineyards;
let’s see if the vine has budded,
if the blossom has opened,
if the pomegranates are in bloom.(AD)
There I will give you my caresses.
13 The mandrakes(AE) give off a fragrance,
and at our doors is every delicacy,
both new and old.
I have treasured them up for you, my love.
8 If only I could treat you like my brother,[m]
one who nursed at my mother’s breasts,
I would find you in public and kiss you,
and no one would scorn me.
2 I would lead you, I would take you,
to the house of my mother(AF) who taught me.[n]
I would give you spiced wine to drink
from the juice of my pomegranate.
3 May his left hand be under my head,
and his right arm embrace me.(AG)
4 Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,
do not stir up or awaken love
until the appropriate time.(AH)
Young Women
5 Who is this(AI) coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on the one she loves?
Woman
I awakened you under the apricot tree.(AJ)
There your mother conceived you;
there she conceived and gave you birth.
6 Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm.(AK)
For love is as strong as death;(AL)
jealousy is as unrelenting as Sheol.
Love’s flames are fiery flames(AM)—
an almighty flame![o]
7 A huge torrent cannot extinguish love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If a man were to give all his wealth[p] for love,(AN)
it would be utterly scorned.
Brothers
8 Our sister is young;
she has no breasts.(AO)
What will we do for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build a silver barricade on her.
If she is a door,
we will enclose her with cedar planks.(AP)
Woman
11 Solomon owned a vineyard in Baal-hamon.(AQ)
He leased the vineyard to tenants.(AR)
Each was to bring for his fruit
one thousand pieces of silver.(AS)
12 I have my own vineyard.[t](AT)
The one thousand are for you, Solomon,
but two hundred for those who take care of its fruits.
Man
Woman
4 Now I say that as long as the heir(A) is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner(B) of everything. 2 Instead, he is under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elements[a] of the world.(C) 4 When the time came to completion, God sent his Son,(D) born of a woman,(E) born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.(F) 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son(G) into our[b] hearts, crying, “Abba,[c] Father!” (H) 7 So you are no longer a slave(I) but a son,(J) and if a son, then God has made you an heir.(K)
Paul’s Concern for the Galatians
8 But in the past, since you didn’t know God,(L) you were enslaved to things[d] that by nature are not gods. 9 But now, since you know God,(M) or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless(N) elements?(O) Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? 10 You are observing special days, months, seasons, and years.(P) 11 I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.
12 I beg you, brothers and sisters: Become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have not wronged me; 13 you know[e] that previously I preached the gospel to you because of a weakness of the flesh. 14 You did not despise or reject me though my physical condition was a trial for you.[f] On the contrary, you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself.
15 Where, then, is your blessing? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So then, have I become your enemy because I told you the truth?(Q) 17 They court you eagerly, but not for good. They want to exclude you from me, so that you would pursue them. 18 But it is always good to be pursued[g] in a good manner—and not just when I am with you. 19 My children,(R) I am again suffering labor pains(S) for you until Christ is formed in you. 20 I would like to be with you right now and change my tone of voice, because I don’t know what to do about you.
Sarah and Hagar: Two Covenants
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don’t you hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham(T) had two sons, one by a slave(U) and the other by a free woman. 23 But the one by the slave was born as a result of the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born through promise. 24 These things are being taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai(V) and bears children into slavery—this is Hagar.(W) 25 Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia(X) and corresponds to the present Jerusalem,(Y) for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above(Z) is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,(AA)
Rejoice, childless woman,(AB)
unable to give birth.
Burst into song and shout,
you who are not in labor,
for the children of the desolate woman will be many,
more numerous than those
of the woman who has a husband.[h](AC)
28 Now you too, brothers and sisters, like Isaac,(AD) are children of promise.(AE) 29 But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit,(AF) so also now.(AG) 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a coheir with the son of the free woman.”[i](AH) 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave but of the free woman.(AI)
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