61 Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women?
Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?
Beloved 2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
He browses among the lilies,
4 You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awesome as an army with banners. 5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they have overcome me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
that lie along the side of Gilead. 6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes,
which have come up from the washing;
of which every one has twins;
none is bereaved among them. 7 Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil. 8 There are sixty queens, eighty concubines,
and virgins without number. 9 My dove, my perfect one, is unique.
She is her mother’s only daughter.
She is the favorite one of her who bore her.
The daughters saw her, and called her blessed;
the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 10 Who is she who looks forth as the morning,
beautiful as the moon,
clear as the sun,
and awesome as an army with banners?
11 I went down into the nut tree grove,
to see the green plants of the valley,
to see whether the vine budded,
and the pomegranates were in flower. 12 Without realizing it,
my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots.
Friends 13 Return, return, Shulammite!
Return, return, that we may gaze at you.
Lover
Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite,
as at the dance of Mahanaim?
71 How beautiful are your feet in sandals, prince’s daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of the hands of a skillful workman. 2 Your body is like a round goblet,
no mixed wine is wanting.
Your waist is like a heap of wheat,
set about with lilies. 3 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
that are twins of a roe. 4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus. 5 Your head on you is like Carmel.
The hair of your head like purple.
The king is held captive in its tresses. 6 How beautiful and how pleasant you are,
love, for delights! 7 This, your stature, is like a palm tree,
your breasts like its fruit. 8 I said, “I will climb up into the palm tree.
I will take hold of its fruit.”
Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
the smell of your breath like apples,
Beloved 9 Your mouth like the best wine,
that goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding through the lips of those who are asleep.
10 I am my beloved’s.
His desire is toward me. 11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field.
Let us lodge in the villages. 12 Let’s go early up to the vineyards.
Let’s see whether the vine has budded,
its blossom is open,
and the pomegranates are in flower.
There I will give you my love. 13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance.
At our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old,
which I have stored up for you, my beloved.
81 Oh that you were like my brother,
who sucked the breasts of my mother!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you;
yes, and no one would despise me. 2 I would lead you, bringing you into my mother’s house,
who would instruct me.
I would have you drink spiced wine,
of the juice of my pomegranate. 3 His left hand would be under my head.
His right hand would embrace me. 4 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
that you not stir up, nor awaken love,
until it so desires.
Friends
5 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I aroused you.
There your mother conceived you.
There she was in labor and bore you. 6 Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm;
for love is strong as death.
Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a very flame of Yahweh. 7 Many waters can’t quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love,
he would be utterly scorned.
Friends
8 We have a little sister.
She has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
in the day when she is to be spoken for? 9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a turret of silver.
if she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
Beloved 10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers,
then I was in his eyes like one who found peace. 11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon.
He leased out the vineyard to keepers.
Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit. 12 My own vineyard is before me.
The thousand are for you, Solomon;
two hundred for those who tend its fruit.
Lover
13 You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance,
let me hear your voice!
Beloved 14 Come away, my beloved!
Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!
41 But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all; 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father. 3 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, 5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children. 6 And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, [1] Father!” 7 So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again? 10 You observe days, months, seasons, and years. 11 I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you.
12 I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong, 13 but you know that because of weakness of the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time. 14 That which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn’t despise nor reject; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What was the blessing you enjoyed? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17 They zealously seek you in no good way. No, they desire to alienate you, that you may seek them. 18 But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you.
19 My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
21 Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the free woman. 23 However, the son by the handmaid was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. 24 These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. 25 For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written,
“Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear.
Break forth and shout, you that don’t travail.
For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.” [2] 28 Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 However what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the handmaid and her son, for the son of the handmaid will not inherit with the son of the free woman.” [3] 31 So then, brothers, we are not children of a handmaid, but of the free woman.
