Song of Songs 4–5
1 How fair you are, my love!
How very fair!
Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
streaming down the hills of Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
that have come up from the washing,
all of which bear twins,
and not one among them has lost its young.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David,
built in rows of stone;
on it hang a thousand shields,
all of them shields of mighty men.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle,
that feed among the lilies.
6 Until the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
I will go away to the mountain of myrrh
and the hill of frankincense.
7 You are altogether fair, my love;
there is no flaw in you.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;
come with me from Lebanon.
Depart from the peak of Amana,
from the peak of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountains of leopards.
9 You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have ravished my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
10 How fair is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better than wine is your love,
and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
11 Your lips drip honey, my bride;
honey and milk are under your tongue;
and the fragrance of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.
12 A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
a fountain sealed.
13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
with all choicest fruits,
henna with nard,
14 nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
with all the chief spices—
15 a garden fountain,
a well of living water,
and flowing streams from Lebanon.
16 Awake, O north wind,
and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my garden,
that its spices may flow out.
Let my beloved come to his garden,
and eat its choicest fruits.
Chapter 5
1 I come to my garden, my sister, my bride;
I gather my myrrh with my spice;
I eat my honeycomb with my honey;
I drink my wine with my milk.
Eat, friends!
Drink, and be drunk with love!
2 I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, and my love,
my dove, my perfect one;
for my head is wet with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night.”
3 I had taken off my garment;
how could I put it on again?
I had bathed my feet;
how could I soil them?
4 My beloved put his hand by the latch,
and my heart yearned for him.
5 I rose up to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh
on the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and was gone.
My soul failed me when he spoke.
I sought him, but found him not;
I called him, but he gave no answer.
7 The watchmen found me
as they went about the city;
they struck me, they wounded me;
they took away my mantle,
those watchmen of the walls.
8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
that you tell him I am faint with love.
9 What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O fairest among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you so charge us?
10 My beloved is white and ruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand.
11 His head is the finest gold;
his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves
beside rivers of water,
bathed in milk,
fitly set.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spices,
mounds of scented herbs.
His lips are lilies,
dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold,
set with jewels.
His body is bright ivory,
inlaid with sapphires.
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
16 His mouth is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
Galatians 3
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. 2 I want to learn only this from you: Did you receive the Spirit through the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Have you endured so many things for nothing, if indeed it was for nothing? 5 Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? 6 Even Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel in advance to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, for “The just shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, for “The man who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us—as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— 14 so that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
15 Brothers, I am speaking in human terms: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is ratified, no one annuls or adds to it. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and his Seed. He does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your Seed,” meaning one, who is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul the covenant that was ratified by God in Christ, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise. But God gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not a mediator for only one party, but God is one.
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? God forbid! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, righteousness would indeed come through the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all things under sin, that the promise through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 But before faith came, we were imprisoned under the law, kept for the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 So the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26 You are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, and there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.