Song of Solomon 5–8

^aI am come into my garden, ^bmy sister, my spouse:

I have ^cgathered my ^dmyrrh with my spice;

^eI have eaten my ^fhoneycomb with my honey;

^gI have drunk my wine with my milk:

Eat, O ^hfriends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

²I sleep, but my heart waketh:

It is the voice of my beloved that ⁱknocketh ^ksaying,

Open to me, ^bmy sister, ^lmy love, ^mmy dove, ⁿmy undefiled:

For my head is filled with dew,

And my ^olocks with the ^pdrops of the night.

^3qI have put off my coat; ^qqhow shall I put it on?

I have ^rwashed my feet; how shall I defile them?

⁴My beloved put in his hand by ^sthe hole of the door,

And ^tmy bowels were moved for him.

⁵I rose up to open to my beloved;

And my hands dropped with myrrh,

And my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh,

Upon the handles of the lock.

⁶I opened to my beloved;

But my beloved had ^uwithdrawn himself, and was gone:

My soul failed ^wwhen he spake:

^xI sought him, but I could not find him;

^yI called him, but he gave me no answer.

^7zThe watchmen that went about the city found me,

They ^asmote me, they wounded me;

The keepers of the walls took away my ^bvail from me.

^8cI charge you, ^dO daughters of Jerusalem,

If ye find my beloved, that ye tell him,

That ^eI am sick of love.

⁹What is thy beloved more than another beloved, ^fO thou fairest among women?

What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so ^ccharge us?

¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy,

The ^gchiefest among ten thousand.

¹¹His head is as ^hthe most ⁱfine gold,

His ^klocks are bushy, and black as a raven.

^12lHis eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters,

Washed with milk, and fitly set.

¹³ⁿHis cheeks are as a ^obed of spices, as sweet flowers:

^pHis lips like ^qlilies, dropping ^rsweet smelling myrrh.

¹⁴His hands are as gold rings ^mset with the ^sberyl:

His belly is as bright ivory overlaid with ^tsapphires.

^15uHis legs are as ^xpillars of marble, set upon sockets of ⁱfine gold:

His countenance is as ^yLebanon, excellent as the ^ycedars.

¹⁶His mouth is ^zmost sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend, ^dO daughters of Jerusalem.

VI.Whither is thy beloved gone, ^aO thou fairest among women?

Whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

²My beloved is gone down into ^bhis garden, to the ^cbeds of spices,

To feed in the gardens, and to gather ^dlilies.

^3eI am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine:

He feedeth among the ^dlilies.

⁴Thou art beautiful, O ^fmy love, as ^gTirzah,

^hComely as Jerusalem,

ⁱTerrible as an army ^kwith banners.

⁵Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me:

^lThy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.

^6mThy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing,

Whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.

⁷ⁿAs a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.

⁸There are ^othreescore queens, and fourscore concubines,

And ^pvirgins without number.

^9qMy dove, ^rmy undefiled is but one;

She is the only one of her mother,

She is the ^schoice one of ^ther that bare her.

^uThe daughters saw her, and blessed her;

Yea, ^othe queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

^10xWho is she that looketh forth as the morning,

Fair as ^ythe moon, ^sclear as ^yzthe sun,

And ⁱterrible as an army with banners?

¹¹I went down into the garden of nuts to see the ^afruits of the valley,

And ^bto see whether the vine flourished, and ^bthe ^cpomegranates ^dbudded.

¹²Or ever I was aware,

My soul made me like the ^echariots of Ammi-nadib.

¹³Return, return, O ^fShulamite;

Return, return, that we may look upon thee.

What will ye see in the Shulamite?

As it were the ^gcompany of two armies.

VII.How beautiful are ^athy feet with shoes, ^bO prince’s daughter!

The joints of thy thighs are like ^cjewels,

The work of the hands of ^da cunning workman.

²Thy navel is like a round ^egoblet, which wanteth not liquor:

Thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with ^flilies.

^3gThy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.

^4hThy neck is as a tower of ivory;

Thine eyes like the fishpools in ⁱHeshbon, by the gate of Bath-^krabbim:

Thy nose is as ^lthe tower of ^mLebanon which looketh toward ⁿDamascus.

⁵Thine head upon thee is like ^oCarmel,

And ^pthe hair of thine head like purple;

^qThe king is held in the ^rgalleries.

⁶How fair and how ^spleasant art thou, O love, for ^tdelights!

⁷This thy stature is like to a ^upalm tree,

And thy breasts to ^xclusters of grapes.

⁸I said, I will go up to the ^upalm tree,

I will take hold of the boughs thereof:

Now also thy breasts shall be as ^xclusters of the vine,

And the smell of thy nose like ^yapples;

⁹And ^zthe roof of thy mouth like the best wine,

For my beloved, ^athat goeth down sweetly,

Causing the lips of those that are ^basleep to speak.

^10cI am my beloved’s, and his ^ddesire is towards me.

¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;

Let us lodge in the villages.

¹²Let us get up early to the vineyards;

Let us ^esee if the vine flourish, whether the ^ftender grape appear,

And ^ethe pomegranates bud forth:

There will I give thee my loves.

¹³The ^gmandrakes give a smell,

And at ^hour gates are all manner of ⁱpleasant fruits,

^jNew and old,

Which I have ^klaid up for thee, O my beloved.

VIII.O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother!

When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;

Yea, I should not be despised.

²I would lead thee, and ^abring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me:

I would cause thee to drink of ^bspiced wine, of the ^cjuice of my ^dpomegranate.

^3eHis left hand should be under my head,

^eAnd his right hand should embrace me.

^4fI charge you, ^gO daughters of Jerusalem,

That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.

^5hWho is this that cometh up from the wilderness,

Leaning upon her beloved?

I ⁱraised thee up under the ^kapple tree:

There thy mother brought thee forth:

There she brought thee forth that bare thee.

⁶Set me as a seal upon thine heart,

As ^la seal upon thine arm:

For ^mlove is strong as death;

ⁿJealousy is cruel as the grave:

The ^ocoals thereof are coals of fire,

Which hath ^pa most vehement ^qflame.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love,

Neither can the floods drown it:

ⁱIf a man would give all the substance of his house for love,

It would utterly be contemned.

⁸We have a little sister, and ^rshe hath no breasts:

What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

⁹If she be a wall, we will build upon her a ^spalace of silver:

And if she be a door, we will inclose her with ^tboards of cedar.

¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts like ^utowers:

Then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

¹¹Solomon had a ^vvineyard at ^wBaal-hamon;

^xHe let out the vineyard unto ^ykeepers;

Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring ^za thousand pieces of silver.

¹²My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:

Thou, O Solomon, must have ^za thousand,

And ^ythose that keep the fruit thereof ^atwo hundred.

^13bThou that dwellest in the gardens,

^cThe companions hearken to thy voice:

^dCause me to hear it.

^14eMake haste, my beloved,

And ^fbe thou like to a roe or to a young hart

Upon the mountains of spices.