Song of Songs 4; Song of Songs 5; Galatians 3

1 [Man]Look at you—so beautiful, my dearest! Look at you—so beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind the veil of your hair! Your hair is like a flock of goats as they stream down Mount Gilead.

2 Your teeth are like newly shorn ewes as they come up from the washing pool— all of them perfectly matched, not one of them lacks its twin.

3 Like a crimson ribbon are your lips; when you smile, it is lovely. Like a slice of pomegranate is the curve of your face behind the veil of your hair.

4 Like David's tower is your neck, splendidly built! A thousand shields are hung upon it— all the weapons of the warriors.

5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle doe, that graze among the lilies.

6 Before the day breeze blows and the shadows flee, I will be off to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.

7 You are utterly beautiful, my dearest; there's not a single flaw in you.

8 [Man]Come down with me from Lebanon, my bride— if only you would come down with me from Lebanon. Descend from the peak of Amana, from the peaks of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountain lairs of leopards.

9 You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride! You have captured my heart with one glance from your eyes, with one strand of your necklace.

10 How beautiful is your loving, my sister, my bride! Your loving is so much better than wine, and your fragrance better than any perfume!

11 Sweetness drops from your lips, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

12 An enclosed garden is my sister, my bride; an enclosed pool, a sealed spring.

13 Your limbs are an orchard of pomegranates with all kinds of luscious fruit, henna, and spices:

14 nard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon, with all scented woods, myrrh, and aloes, with the very choicest perfumes!

15 You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water, streams from Lebanon.

16 Stir, north wind, and come, south wind!Blow upon my garden; let its perfumes flow! [Woman]Let my love come to his garden; let him eat its luscious fruit!

1 [Man]I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride! I have gathered my myrrh and my spices. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, dear friends! Drink and get drunk on love!

2 [Woman]I was sleeping, but my heart was awake. A sound! My love is knocking: [Man]"Open for me, my sister, my dearest, my dove, my perfect one! My head is soaked with dew, my hair, with the night mists."

3 [Woman]"I have taken off my tunic— why should I put it on again? I have bathed my feet— why should I get them dirty?"

4 My love put his hand in through the latch hole, and my body ached for him.

5 I rose; I went to open for my love, and my hands dripped myrrh, my fingers, liquid myrrh, over the handles of the lock.

6 I went and opened for my love, but my love had turned, gone away. I nearly died when he turned away. I looked for him but couldn't find him. I called out to him, but he didn't answer me.

7 They found me—the guards who make their rounds in the city. They struck me, bruised me. They took my shawl away from me, those guards of the city walls!

8 I place you under oath, daughters of Jerusalem: If you find my love, what should you tell him? That I'm weak with love!

9 [Daughters of Jerusalem]How is your lover different from any other lover, you who are the most beautiful of women? How is your lover different from any other lover, that you make us swear a solemn pledge?

10 [Woman]My lover is radiant and ruddy; he stands out among ten thousand!

11 His head is finest gold; his wavy hair, black as a raven.

12 His eyes are like doves by channels of water. They are bathing in milk, sitting by brimming pools.

13 His cheeks are like fragrant plantings, towers of spices. His lips are lilies dripping liquid myrrh.

14 His arms are gold cylinders studded with jewels. His belly is smooth ivory encrusted with sapphires.

15 His thighs are pillars of whitest stone set on pedestals of gold. His appearance—like Lebanon, stately, like the cedars.

16 His mouth is everything sweet, every bit of him desirable. This is my love, this my dearest, daughters of Jerusalem!

1 You irrational Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Jesus Christ was put on display as crucified before your eyes!

2 I just want to know this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the Law or by believing what you heard?

3 Are you so irrational? After you started with the Spirit, are you now finishing up with your own human effort?

4 Did you experience so much for nothing? I wonder if it really was for nothing.

5 So does the one providing you with the Spirit and working miracles among you do this by you doing the works of the Law or by you believing what you heard?

6 Understand that in the same way that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness,

7 those who believe are the children of Abraham.

8 But when it saw ahead of time that God would make the Gentiles righteous on the basis of faith, scripture preached the gospel in advance to Abraham: All the Gentiles will be blessed in you.

9 Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham who believed.

10 All those who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone is cursed who does not keep on doing all the things that have been written in the Law scroll.

11 But since no one is made righteous by the Law as far as God is concerned, it is clear that the righteous one will live on the basis of faith.

12 The Law isn't based on faith; rather, the one doing these things will live by them.

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—because it is written, Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.

14 He redeemed us so that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, and that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

15 Brothers and sisters, I'll use an example from human experience. No one ignores or makes additions to a validated will.

16 The promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn't say, "and to the descendants," as if referring to many rather than just one. It says, "and to your descendant," who is Christ.

17 I'm saying this: the Law, which came four hundred thirty years later, doesn't invalidate the agreement that was previously validated by God so that it cancels the promise.

18 If the inheritance were based upon the Law, it would no longer be from the promise. But God has given it graciously to Abraham through a promise.

19 So why was the Law given? It was added because of offenses, until the descendant would come to whom the promise had been made. It was put in place through angels by the hand of a mediator.

20 Now the mediator does not take one side; but God is one.

21 So, is the Law against the promises of God? Absolutely not! If a Law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would in fact have come from the Law.

22 But scripture locked up all things under sin, so that the promise based on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ might be given to those who have faith.

23 Before faith came, we were guarded under the Law, locked up until faith that was coming would be revealed,

24 so that the Law became our custodian until Christ so that we might be made righteous by faith.

25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian.

26 You are all God's children through faith in Christ Jesus.

27 All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 Now if you belong to Christ, then indeed you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise.