Your updated, updated version looks a lot better, and the padding around the verse looks MUCH better! 🙂
I’m not totally sold on the display (fancy) typeface for that photo. It feels a little too bold compared to the other typeface for my tastes right now, but that could be a personal preference. Perhaps if you made the display portions of the design smaller it would help?
I don’t think putting the reference in the body typeface, all-caps, and in a lighter weight was the right call for this particular design. It adds a complication to the design that I think is unnecessary… Perhaps you could try using the display typeface there in a slightly smaller size or just make the reference the normal weight of the body typeface and reduce its size
Your second design looks much better as well! The more opaque overlay definitely helped with legibility.
It feels much more polished. Keep up the good work!