Song of Songs 2 Cross References - BSB

¹ I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley. ² Like a lily among the thorns is my darling among the maidens. ³ Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. ⁴ He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love. ⁵ Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. ⁶ His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. ⁷ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right. ⁸ Listen! My beloved approaches. Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. ⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice. ¹⁰ My beloved calls to me, “Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one. ¹¹ For now the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. ¹² The flowers have appeared in the countryside; the season of singing has come, and the cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land. ¹³ The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come away, my darling; come away with me, my beautiful one.” ¹⁴ O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your countenance is lovely. ¹⁵ Catch for us the foxes—the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—for our vineyards are in bloom. ¹⁶ My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies. ¹⁷ Before the day breaks and shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.

¹¹ Faithfulness sprouts from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.

¹⁶ My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.

³ I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

¹ The wilderness and the land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. ² It will bloom profusely and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

¹⁵ For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

¹³ Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will spring up; they will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

²⁸ And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.

¹⁶ Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

¹⁵ so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world ¹⁶ as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

¹² Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

²² Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...” ²³ Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.

¹⁵ But the thornbush replied, ‘If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁹ if you have acted faithfully and honestly toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, then may you rejoice in Abimelech, and he in you. ²⁰ But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”

² You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips, since God has blessed you forever.

¹ For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul into the cave. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger has passed.

⁶ For who in the skies can compare with the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?

¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

⁵ Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

¹⁶ Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Breathe on my garden and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choicest fruits.

⁹ How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so? ¹⁰ My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.

¹⁶ His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

⁵ Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth.

² On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.

⁶ a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.

⁴ For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,

² Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.

²³ I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israel so that it will bear branches; it will yield fruit and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind will nest under it, taking shelter in the shade of its branches. ²⁴ Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”

¹² Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’” ¹⁶ From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.

²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰ He must increase; I must decrease. ³¹ The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.

¹ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. ² He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. ⁵ I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.

¹ On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. ² But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ⁴ So He became as far superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is excellent beyond theirs. ⁵ For to which of the angels did God ever say: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father”? Or again: “I will be His Father, and He will be My Son”? ⁶ And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all God’s angels worship Him.”

¹ Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. ² He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴ And every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ⁵ Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be spoken later. ⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.

²³ Now there have been many other priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office. ²⁴ But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them. ²⁶ Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write these things so that our joy may be complete.

¹ Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

⁷ In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him.

¹⁰ Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

⁵ May we shout for joy at your victory and raise a banner in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your petitions.

⁴ You have raised a banner for those who fear You, that they may flee the bow. Selah

² So I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and glory. ³ Because Your loving devotion is better than life, my lips will glorify You. ⁴ So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift my hands. ⁵ My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

¹⁰ For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

¹ This is Solomon’s Song of Songs.

⁴ Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.

¹ I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.

⁴ You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.

¹⁰ On that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His place of rest will be glorious.

²¹ Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, “Lord, why are You going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

⁹ As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.

⁸ But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him! ¹⁰ For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

²⁸ And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. ³¹ What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.

¹⁹ Then he distributed to every man and woman among the multitude of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. And all the people departed, each for his own home.

¹ After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom. ² Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her.

³ Then he distributed to every man and woman of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake.

⁶ Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O LORD. ⁷ You have filled my heart with more joy than when grain and new wine abound.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. ² My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

¹ A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water. ² So I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and glory. ³ Because Your loving devotion is better than life, my lips will glorify You.

⁸ My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

¹³⁰ The unfolding of Your words gives light; it informs the simple. ¹³¹ I open my mouth and pant, longing for Your commandments.

⁸ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

⁸ I said, “I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples,

⁸ Yes, we wait for You, O LORD; we walk in the path of Your judgments. Your name and renown are the desire of our souls. ⁹ My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

¹ Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols.”

³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us as He spoke with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

²³ I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed.

⁸ Prize her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you.

³ His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. ⁴ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right. ⁵ Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth.

⁵ For your husband is your Maker—the LORD of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. ⁶ For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God. ⁷ “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. ⁸ In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer. ⁹ “For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you. ¹⁰ Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

⁴ No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be His bride. ⁵ For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

⁴¹ Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

¹⁷ The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”

²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her ²⁶ to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.

¹⁹ A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.

⁵ I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

⁵ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

⁸ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love. ⁹ How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?

⁴ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

⁶³ But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to Him, “I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

²² Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her ²⁶ to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church. ³⁰ For we are members of His body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

¹⁶ As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ Before the day breaks and shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.

² I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

⁶ Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

³ A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. ⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.

²³ Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O depths of the earth. Break forth in song, O mountains, you forests and all your trees. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and revealed His glory in Israel.

¹¹ I will turn all My mountains into roads, and My highways will be raised up. ¹² Behold, they will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Aswan.” ¹³ Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

¹² You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. ¹³ Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will spring up; they will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

²⁷ Was not Israel your object of ridicule? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.

⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. ⁵ Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth. ⁶ And all humanity will see God’s salvation.’”

²³ Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For their fathers treated the prophets in the same way.

⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will flee from him because they do not recognize his voice.”

²⁷ My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.

⁸ He sprang to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and leaping and praising God.

¹⁰ In a loud voice Paul called out, “Stand up on your feet!” And the man jumped up and began to walk.

¹⁸ The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was fleet of foot like a wild gazelle,

¹⁴ Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

³⁵ Then the two told what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

³⁹ You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,

⁴⁶ If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.

¹² Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away. ¹⁴ But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed. ¹⁵ And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶ But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace

¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.

⁸ By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. ⁹ It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper.

¹ For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body,

¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully, ¹¹ trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

¹⁰ So I fell at his feet to worship him. But he told me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who rely on the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

¹ Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. ² I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

³ The God of Israel spoke; the Rock of Israel said to me, ‘He who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God,

¹⁰ Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house, ¹¹ and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your lord.

⁸ I will listen to what God the LORD will say; for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints; He will not let them return to folly.

⁸ Listen! My beloved approaches. Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.

¹³ The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come away, my darling; come away with me, my beautiful one.”

⁷ You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw. ⁸ Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon! Descend from the peak of Amana, from the summits of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.

³ The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

¹⁹ “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ And at once they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹ Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him.

¹⁷ “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” ¹⁸ And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

² I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

⁷ Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. ⁸ She was given clothing of fine linen, bright and pure.” For the fine linen she wears is the righteous acts of the saints. ⁹ Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.

⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

¹ In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me. ² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”

² “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

⁶ For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God. ⁷ “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. ⁸ In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.

¹ Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. ² For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.

⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

¹⁴ The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly. ¹⁵ Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. ² He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm. ³ He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

¹⁵ Blessed are those who know the joyful sound, who walk, O LORD, in the light of Your presence.

⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth, all great sea creatures and ocean depths, ⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds, powerful wind fulfilling His word, ⁹ mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, ¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle, crawling creatures and flying birds, ¹¹ kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, ¹² young men and maidens, old and young together. ¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

² My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.

¹¹ I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.

¹⁰ Sing to the LORD a new song—His praise from the ends of the earth—you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who dwell in them. ¹¹ Let the desert and its cities raise their voices; let the villages of Kedar cry aloud. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops. ¹² Let them give glory to the LORD and declare His praise in the islands.

¹² You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

⁷ Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.

⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon. ⁶ His shoots will sprout, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. ⁷ They will return and dwell in his shade; they will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁹ so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.” ¹⁰ Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” ¹¹ And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and extol Him, all you peoples.” ¹² And once more, Isaiah says: “The Root of Jesse will appear, One who will arise to rule over the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles will put their hope.” ¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹³ And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹ Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁶ Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

¹⁰ My beloved calls to me, “Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one.

¹¹ Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside; let us spend the night among the wildflowers. ¹² Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my love. ¹³ The mandrakes send forth a fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, new as well as old, that I have treasured up for you, my beloved.

⁵ For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife and remove and discard the branches.

¹⁰ For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, ¹¹ so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

⁶ His shoots will sprout, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

¹⁹ Is there still seed in the barn? The vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yet yielded fruit. But from this day on, I will bless you.”

³² Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near.

⁶ Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. ⁷ So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, ‘Look, for the past three years I have come to search for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

⁴² and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.

²⁰ Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

¹ As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ² For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

⁶ Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

¹¹ And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹² Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.” ¹³ But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

²² and when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.”

⁵ At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God, ⁶ and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.

¹⁶ If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.

³ Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

¹¹ and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your lord.

¹⁴ Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High. ¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

²³ He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and to him who rights his way, I will show the salvation of God.”

¹³ Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, the wings of the dove are covered with silver, and her feathers with shimmering gold.”

¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.

³ Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.

⁸ The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

⁸ If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.

¹⁵ How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.

⁹ but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the favorite of the mother who bore her. The maidens see her and call her blessed; the queens and concubines sing her praises. ¹⁰ Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?

¹³ You who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice. Let me hear it!

²¹ They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

⁵ Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”

³ For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

⁸ Who are these who fly like clouds, like doves to their shelters?

²⁸ Abandon the towns and settle among the rocks, O dwellers of Moab! Be like a dove that nests at the mouth of a cave.

¹⁶ The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

¹⁶ The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.

⁷ To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.

³ The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.

⁴⁷ Then the woman, seeing that she could not escape notice, came trembling and fell down before Him. In the presence of all the people, she explained why she had touched Him and how she had immediately been healed. ⁴⁸ “Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

²⁷ and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.

²² But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—

¹⁶ Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

²² let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

⁴ but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—

⁸ And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” ⁹ And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

⁸ When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

⁹ After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

¹³ The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it.

¹² Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my love.

⁴ Your prophets, O Israel, are like foxes among the ruins. ⁵ You did not go up to the gaps or restore the wall around the house of Israel so that it would stand in the battle on the Day of the LORD. ⁶ They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ when the LORD did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message. ⁷ Haven’t you seen a false vision and spoken a lying divination when you proclaim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ even though I have not spoken? ⁸ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have uttered vain words and seen false visions, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. ⁹ My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and speak lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of My people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD. ¹⁰ Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built, ¹¹ tell those whitewashing the wall that it will fall. Rain will come in torrents, I will send hailstones plunging down, and a windstorm will burst forth. ¹² Surely when the wall has fallen, you will not be asked, ‘Where is the whitewash with which you covered it?’ ¹³ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: In My wrath I will release a windstorm, and in My anger torrents of rain and hail will fall with destructive fury. ¹⁴ I will tear down the wall you whitewashed and level it to the ground, so that its foundation is exposed. The city will fall, and you will be destroyed within it. Then you will know that I am the LORD. ¹⁵ And after I have vented My wrath against the wall and against those who whitewashed it, I will say to you: ‘The wall is gone, and so are those who whitewashed it— ¹⁶ those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw a vision of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Lord GOD.’

³² But Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I will keep driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach My goal.’

¹ Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed. ³ In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.

² I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.

¹⁴ For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.

¹ A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.

⁷ Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?

¹ I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.

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

¹⁰ I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.

¹³ The mandrakes send forth a fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, new as well as old, that I have treasured up for you, my beloved.

³³ “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

²¹ Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, ²³ and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

² I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.

⁸ Listen! My beloved approaches. Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. ⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

⁶ Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the Dawn will visit us from on high,

¹² The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

⁵ The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

¹⁹ We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.