Song of Songs 1:1-8:7

1Solomon’s Song of Songs. She The main male and female speakers (identified primarily on the basis of the gender of the relevant Hebrew forms) are indicated by the captions He and She respectively. The words of others are marked Friends. In some instances the divisions and their captions are debatable.

2Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine.

3Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the young women love you!

4Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. Friends We rejoice and delight in you The Hebrew is masculine singular. ; we will praise your love more than wine. She How right they are to adore you!

5Dark am I, yet lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. Or Salma

6Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I had to neglect.

7Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? Friends

8If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds. He

9I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.

10Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.

11We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver. She

12While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.

13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts.

14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi. He

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

16How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how charming! And our bed is verdant. He 17The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are firs.

1She Or He I am a rose Probably a member of the crocus family of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. He

2Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women. She

3Like an apple Or possibly apricot; here and elsewhere in Song of Songs 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.

4Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.

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

6His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.

7Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

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

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

10My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.

11See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.

12Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

13The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.” He

14My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

15Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. She

16My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies. 17Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills. Or the hills of Bether

1All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him.

2I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him.

3The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”

4Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the room of the one who conceived me.

5Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

6Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant?

7Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel,

8all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night.

9King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of wood from Lebanon.

10Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple, its interior inlaid with love. Daughters of Jerusalem, 11come out, and look, you daughters of Zion. Look Or interior lovingly inlaid / by the daughters of Jerusalem. / 11 Come out, you daughters of Zion, / and look on King Solomon wearing a crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.

1He How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from the hills of Gilead.

2Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing. Each has its twin; not one of them is alone.

3Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.

4Your neck is like the tower of David, built with courses of stone The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. ; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors.

5Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.

6Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense.

7You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.

8Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon, from the lions’ dens and the mountain haunts of leopards.

9You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.

10How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume more than any spice!

11Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

12You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.

13Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard,

14nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices.

15You are Or I am (spoken by She) a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon. She 16Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.

1He I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Friends Eat, friends, and drink; drink your fill of love. She

2I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! 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.”

3I have taken off my robe— must I put it on again? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again?

4My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him.

5I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.

6I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. Or heart had gone out to him when he spoke I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer.

7The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls!

8Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you— if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love. Friends

9How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women? How is your beloved better than others, that you so charge us? She

10My beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.

11His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

12His eyes are like doves by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels.

13His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.

14His arms are rods of gold set with topaz. His body is like polished ivory decorated with lapis lazuli.

15His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars. 16His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.

1Friends Where has your beloved gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your beloved turn, that we may look for him with you? She

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

3I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies. He

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

5Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead.

6Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is missing.

7Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.

8Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number;

9but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her. Friends

10Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession? He

11I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom.

12Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people. Or among the chariots of Amminadab; or among the chariots of the people of the prince Friends 13Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you! He Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim? In Hebrew texts this verse (6:13) is numbered 7:1.

1In Hebrew texts 7:1-13 is numbered 7:2-14. How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince’s daughter! Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of an artist’s hands.

2Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies.

3Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle.

4Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.

5Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. Your hair is like royal tapestry; the king is held captive by its tresses.

6How beautiful you are and how pleasing, my love, with your delights!

7Your stature is like that of the palm, and your breasts like clusters of fruit.

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

9and your mouth like the best wine. She May the wine go straight to my beloved, flowing gently over lips and teeth. Septuagint, Aquila, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew lips of sleepers

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

11Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages. Or the henna bushes

12Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom— there I will give you my love. 13The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my beloved.

1If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother’s breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

2I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house— she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.

3His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me.

4Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. Friends

5Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? She Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth.

6Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy Or ardor unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Or fire, / like the very flame of the Lord

7Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it Or he would be utterly scorned. Friends