Song of Solomon 5–8

Man

5I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.

I gather^C my myrrh with my spices.

I eat my honeycomb with my honey.

I drink my wine with my milk.

Narrator

Eat, friends!

Drink, be intoxicated with caresses!^Dad

Woman

²I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.

A sound! My love was knocking!^a

Man

Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove, my perfect one.

For my head is drenched with dew,

my hair with droplets of the night.

Woman

³I have taken off my clothing.^b

How can I put it back on?

I have washed my feet.

How can I get them dirty?

⁴My love thrust his hand through the opening,

and my feelings were stirred for him.

⁵I rose to open for my love.

My hands dripped with myrrh,^c

my fingers with flowing myrrh

on the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened to my love,

but my love had turned and gone away.

My heart sank^E because he had left.^F

I sought him, but did not find him.^d

I called him, but he did not answer.

⁷The guards who go about the city found me.^e

They beat and wounded me;

they took my cloak^G from me—

the guardians of the walls.^f

⁸Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,^g

if you find my love,

tell him that I am lovesick.^h

Young Women

⁹What makes the one you love better than another,

most beautiful of women?ⁱ

What makes him better than another,

that you would give us this charge?

Woman

¹⁰My love is fit and strong,^Aj

notable among ten thousand.^k

¹¹His head is purest gold.

His hair is wavy^Bl

and black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves^m

beside flowing streams,

washed in milk

and set like jewels.^C

¹³His cheeksⁿ are like beds of spice,

mounds of^D perfume.

His lips are lilies,

dripping with flowing myrrh.^o

¹⁴His arms^E are rods of gold

set with beryl.^p

His body^G is an ivory panel

covered with lapis lazuli.^q

¹⁵His legs are alabaster pillars

set on pedestals of pure gold.

His presence is like Lebanon,^r

as majestic as the cedars.^s

¹⁶His mouth is sweetness.

He is absolutely desirable.^t

This is my love, and this is my friend,

young women of Jerusalem.

Young Women

6Where has your love gone,

most beautiful of women?

Which way has he^H turned?

We will seek him with you.

Woman

²My love has gone down to his garden,^u

to beds of spice,^v

to feed in the gardens^w

and gather lilies.^x

³I am my love’s and my love is mine;^y

he feeds among the lilies.

Man

⁴You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,

lovely as Jerusalem,

awe-inspiring as an army with banners.^z

⁵Turn your eyes away from me,

for they captivate me.^aa

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down from Gilead.^ab

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

coming up from washing,

each one having a twin,

and not one missing.^Iac

⁷Behind your veil,^ad

your brow^J is like a slice of pomegranate.

⁸There are sixty queens

and eighty concubines^ae

and young women without number.

⁹But my dove,^a my virtuous one, is unique;^b

she is the favorite of her mother,

perfect to the one who gave her birth.

Women see her and declare her fortunate;^c

queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:

¹⁰Who is this^d who shines like the dawn,

as beautiful as the moon,

bright as the sun,

awe-inspiring as an army with banners?^e

Woman

¹¹I came down to the walnut grove

to see the blossoms of the valley,

to see if the vines were budding^f

and the pomegranates blooming.

¹²I didn’t know what was happening to me.

I felt like I was

in a chariot with a nobleman.^A

Young Women

¹³Come back, come back, Shulammite!^B

Come back, come back, that we may look at you!

Man

How you gaze at the Shulammite,

as you look at the dance^g of the two camps!^Ch

7How beautiful are your sandaled feet, princess!^Di

The curves of your thighs are like jewelry,

the handiwork of a master.

²Your navel is a rounded bowl;

it never lacks mixed wine.

Your belly is a mound of wheat

surrounded by lilies.

³Your breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle.^j

⁴Your neck is like a tower of ivory,^k

your eyes like pools in Heshbon

by Bath-rabbim’s gate.

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon

looking toward Damascus.

⁵Your head crowns you^E like Mount Carmel,

the hair of your head like purple cloth—

a king could be held captive^l in your tresses.

⁶How beautiful you are and how pleasant,^m

my love, with such delights!

⁷Your stature is like a palm tree;

your breasts are clusters of fruit.

⁸I said, “I will climb the palm tree

and take hold of its fruit.”ⁿ

May your breasts be like clusters of grapes,

and the fragrance of your breath like apricots.^o

⁹Your mouth^F is like fine wine^p—

Woman

flowing smoothly for my love,

gliding past my lips and teeth!^G

¹⁰I am my love’s,

and his desire^q is for me.^r

¹¹Come, my love,

let’s go to the field;

let’s spend the night among the henna blossoms.^A

¹²Let’s go early to the vineyards;

let’s see if the vine has budded,

if the blossom has opened,

if the pomegranates are in bloom.^s

There I will give you my caresses.

¹³The mandrakes^t give off a fragrance,

and at our doors is every delicacy,

both new and old.

I have treasured them up for you, my love.

8If only I could treat you like my brother,^B

one who nursed at my mother’s breasts,

I would find you in public and kiss you,

and no one would scorn me.

²I would lead you, I would take you,

to the house of my mother^u who taught me.^C

I would give you spiced wine to drink

from the juice of my pomegranate.

³May his left hand be under my head,

and his right arm embrace me.^v

⁴Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,

do not stir up or awaken love

until the appropriate time.^a

Young Women

⁵Who is this^b coming up from the wilderness,

leaning on the one she loves?

Woman

I awakened you under the apricot tree.^c

There your mother conceived you;

there she conceived and gave you birth.

⁶Set me as a seal on your heart,

as a seal on your arm.^d

For love is as strong as death;^e

jealousy is as unrelenting as Sheol.

Love’s flames are fiery flames^f—

an almighty flame!^D

⁷A huge torrent cannot extinguish love;

rivers cannot sweep it away.

If a man were to give all his wealth^E for love,^g

it would be utterly scorned.

Brothers

⁸Our sister is young;

she has no breasts.^h

What will we do for our sister

on the day she is spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall,

we will build a silver barricade on her.

If she is a door,

we will enclose her with cedar planks.ⁱ

Woman

¹⁰I am^F a wall

and my breasts like towers.

So to him I have become

like one who finds^G peace.^H

¹¹Solomon owned a vineyard in Baal-hamon.^j

He leased the vineyard to tenants.^k

Each was to bring for his fruit

one thousand pieces of silver.^l

¹²I have my own vineyard.^m

The one thousand are for you, Solomon,

but two hundred for those who take care of its fruits.

Man

¹³You^B who dwell in the gardens,

companionsⁿ are listening for your voice;

let me hear you!^o

Woman

¹⁴Run away with me,^C my love,

and be like a gazelle

or a young stag

on the mountains of spices.^p