Song of Solomon 2:2
Like a lily among the thorns is my darling among the maidens.
BSB
ASV
As a lily among thorns, So is my love among the daughters.
KJV
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
"I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys, as a lily among thorns." This is a plain declaration that virtues are surrounded by the thorns of spiritual wickedness, so that no one can gather the fruit who does not approach with caution.
The king resumes, taking up the bride’s comparison: “As the lily excels in beauty the thorny shrubs among which it grows, so my friend excels her companions.”
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
1 Peter 2:12Conduct 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.
leads to
keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ.
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
In everything, show yourself to be an example by doing good works. In your teaching show integrity, dignity,
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
For we are taking great care to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.
Through
Matthew 10:16Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
leads to
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
Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
