Song of Solomon 4; Song of Solomon 5; Galatians 3

1 How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.

2 Your teeth are white like newly sheared sheep just coming from their bath. Each one has a twin, and none of them is missing.

3 Your lips are like red silk thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks behind your veil are like slices of a pomegranate.

4 Your neck is like David's tower, built with rows of stones. A thousand shields hang on its walls; each shield belongs to a strong soldier.

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

6 Until the day dawns and the shadows disappear, I will go to that mountain of myrrh and to that hill of incense.

7 My darling, everything about you is beautiful, and there is nothing at all wrong with you.

8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride. Come with me from Lebanon, from the top of Mount Amana, from the tops of Mount Senir and Mount Hermon. Come from the lions' dens and from the leopards' hills.

9 My sister, my bride, you have thrilled my heart; you have thrilled my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one sparkle from your necklace.

10 Your love is so sweet, my sister, my bride. Your love is better than wine, and your perfume smells better than any spice.

11 My bride, your lips drip honey; honey and milk are under your tongue. Your clothes smell like the cedars of Lebanon.

12 My sister, my bride, you are like a garden locked up, like a walled-in spring, a closed-up fountain.

13 Your limbs are like an orchard of pomegranates with all the best fruit, filled with flowers and nard,

14 nard and saffron, calamus, and cinnamon, with trees of incense, myrrh, and aloes -- all the best spices.

15 You are like a garden fountain -- a well of fresh water flowing down from the mountains of Lebanon.

16 Awake, north wind. Come, south wind. Blow on my garden, and let its sweet smells flow out. Let my lover enter the garden and eat its best fruits.

1 I have entered my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey. I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, friends, and drink; yes, drink deeply, lovers.

2 I sleep, but my heart is awake. I hear my lover knocking. "Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is wet with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night."

3 I have taken off my garment and don't want to put it on again. I have washed my feet and don't want to get them dirty again.

4 My lover put his hand through the opening, and I felt excited inside.

5 I got up to open the door for my lover. Myrrh was dripping from my hands and flowing from my fingers, onto the handles of the lock.

6 I opened the door for my lover, but my lover had left and was gone. When he spoke, he took my breath away. I looked for him, but I could not find him; I called for him, but he did not answer.

7 The watchmen found me as they patrolled the city. They hit me and hurt me; the guards on the wall took away my veil.

8 Promise me, women of Jerusalem, if you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love.

9 How is your lover better than other lovers, most beautiful of women? How is your lover better than other lovers? Why do you want us to promise this?

10 My lover is healthy and tan, the best of ten thousand men.

11 His head is like the finest gold; his hair is wavy and black like a raven.

12 His eyes are like doves by springs of water. They seem to be bathed in cream and are set like jewels.

13 His cheeks are like beds of spices; they smell like mounds of perfume. His lips are like lilies flowing with myrrh.

14 His hands are like gold hinges, filled with jewels. His body is like shiny ivory covered with sapphires.

15 His legs are like large marble posts, standing on bases of fine gold. He is like a cedar of Lebanon, like the finest of the trees.

16 His mouth is sweet to kiss, and I desire him very much. Yes, daughters of Jerusalem, this is my lover and my friend.

1 You people in Galatia were told very clearly about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. But you were foolish; you let someone trick you.

2 Tell me this one thing: How did you receive the Holy Spirit? Did you receive the Spirit by following the law? No, you received the Spirit because you heard the Good News and believed it.

3 You began your life in Christ by the Spirit. Now are you trying to make it complete by your own power? That is foolish.

4 Were all your experiences wasted? I hope not!

5 Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you follow the law? No, he does these things because you heard the Good News and believed it.

6 The Scriptures say the same thing about Abraham: "Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham's faith, and that faith made him right with God."

7 So you should know that the true children of Abraham are those who have faith.

8 The Scriptures, telling what would happen in the future, said that God would make the non-Jewish people right through their faith. This Good News was told to Abraham beforehand, as the Scripture says: "All nations will be blessed through you."

9 So all who believe as Abraham believed are blessed just as Abraham was.

10 But those who depend on following the law to make them right are under a curse, because the Scriptures say, "Anyone will be cursed who does not always obey what is written in the Book of the Law."

11 Now it is clear that no one can be made right with God by the law, because the Scriptures say, "Those who are right with God will live by trusting in him."

12 The law is not based on faith. It says, "A person who obeys these things will live because of them."

13 Christ took away the curse the law put on us. He changed places with us and put himself under that curse. It is written in the Scriptures, "Anyone whose body is displayed on a treen is cursed."

14 Christ did this so that God's blessing promised to Abraham might come through Jesus Christ to those who are not Jews. Jesus died so that by our believing we could receive the Spirit that God promised.

15 Brothers and sisters, let us think in human terms: Even an agreement made between two persons is firm. After that agreement is accepted by both people, no one can stop it or add anything to it.

16 God made promises both to Abraham and to his descendant. God did not say, "and to your descendants." That would mean many people. But God said, "and to your descendant." That means only one person; that person is Christ.

17 This is what I mean: God had an agreement with Abraham and promised to keep it. The law, which came four hundred thirty years later, cannot change that agreement and so destroy God's promise to Abraham.

18 If the law could give us Abraham's blessing, then the promise would not be necessary. But that is not possible, because God freely gave his blessings to Abraham through the promise he had made.

19 So what was the law for? It was given to show that the wrong things people do are against God's will. And it continued until the special descendant, who had been promised, came. The law was given through angels who used Moses for a mediatorn to give the law to people.

20 But a mediator is not needed when there is only one side, and God is only one.

21 Does this mean that the law is against God's promises? Never! That would be true only if the law could make us right. But God did not give a law that can bring life.

22 Instead, the Scriptures showed that the whole world is bound by sin. This was so the promise would be given through faith to people who believe in Jesus Christ.

23 Before this faith came, we were all held prisoners by the law. We had no freedom until God showed us the way of faith that was coming.

24 In other words, the law was our guardian leading us to Christ so that we could be made right with God through faith.

25 Now the way of faith has come, and we no longer live under a guardian.

26

27 You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This means that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

28 In Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free person, male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus.

29 You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham's descendants. You will inherit all of God's blessings because of the promise God made to Abraham.