Kidung Agung 2:10-13

The Season of Love and the Song of the Turtle-Dove

The Lover to His Beloved:

2:10 My lover spoke to me, saying:

“Arise, my darling;

My beautiful one, come away with me!

2:11 Look! The winter has passed,

the winter rains are over and gone.

2:12 The pomegranates have appeared ¹  in the land,

the time for pruning and singing ²  has come;

the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

2:13 The fig tree has budded,

the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance.

Arise, come away my darling;

my beautiful one, come away with me!”

Yesaya 55:1-3

The Lord Gives an Invitation

55:1 “Hey, ³  all who are thirsty, come to the water!

You who have no money, come!

Buy and eat!

Come! Buy wine and milk

without money and without cost! ⁴ 

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ⁵ 

Why spend ⁶  your hard-earned money ⁷  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ⁸  to me and eat what is nourishing! ⁹ 

Enjoy fine food! ¹⁰ 

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ¹¹ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ¹²  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ¹³ 

Yesaya 55:2

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ¹⁴ 

Why spend ¹⁵  your hard-earned money ¹⁶  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ¹⁷  to me and eat what is nourishing! ¹⁸ 

Enjoy fine food! ¹⁹ 

Kolose 1:17-18

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ²⁰  in him.

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ²¹  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ²² 

Kolose 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²³  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “are seen.”

[2:12]  ² tn Alternately, “the time of singing” or “the time of pruning.” The homonymic root זָמִיר (zamir) means “song, singing” (HALOT 273 s.v. I זָמִיר; DCH 3:117 s.v. זָמִיר a), while זָמִיר II means “pruning, trimming” (HALOT 273 s.v. II; DCH 3:117 s.v. II). The intended root is debated among the ancient versions (LXX, Aquila, Symmachus, Vulgate, Targum), Hebrew lexicographers (HALOT 273; DCH 3:117), and translations: “singing” (KJV, NIV, NASB margin, NJPS margin), “pruning” (NASB, NJPS). However, rather than choosing between these two roots, it is likely that this is an example of intentional ambiguity. The preceding line draws out the meaning of זָמִיר (“trimming, pruning”): “The pomegranates are seen in the land, the time of pruning has come.” The following line draws out the meaning of זָמִיר (“singing”): “The time of singing has come, the voice of the turtledove is heard in the land.” This homonymic wordplay creates an example of “janus parallelism” between the three poetic lines which play off both root meanings of the intentionally ambiguous homonym. This elegant wordplay and the AB:BA “janus parallelism” may be represented thus: “The pomegranates are seen in the land, the time has come for pruning // singing, the voice of the turtledove is heard in the land.”

[55:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments and is often prefixed to judgment oracles for rhetorical effect. But here it appears to be a simple interjection, designed to grab the audience’s attention. Perhaps there is a note of sorrow or pity. See BDB 223 s.v.

[55:1]  ⁴ sn The statement is an oxymoron. Its ironic quality adds to its rhetorical impact. The statement reminds one of the norm (one must normally buy commodities) as it expresses the astounding offer. One might paraphrase the statement: “Come and take freely what you normally have to pay for.”

[55:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

[55:2]  ⁶ tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[55:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

[55:2]  ⁸ tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

[55:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[55:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

[55:2]  sn Nourishing, fine food here represents the blessings God freely offers. These include forgiveness, a new covenantal relationship with God, and national prominence (see vv. 3-6).

[55:3]  ¹¹ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  sn To live here refers to covenantal blessing, primarily material prosperity and national security (see vv. 4-5, 13, and Deut 30:6, 15, 19-20).

[55:3]  ¹² tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[55:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

[55:2]  ¹⁵ tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[55:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

[55:2]  ¹⁷ tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

[55:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[55:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

[55:2]  sn Nourishing, fine food here represents the blessings God freely offers. These include forgiveness, a new covenantal relationship with God, and national prominence (see vv. 3-6).

[1:17]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

[1:18]  ²¹ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ²² tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[1:1]  ²³ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.