Song of Solomon 5:2–8:4
The Bride Searches for Her Beloved
She
2 I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is mknocking.
“Open to me, my nsister, my olove,
for my head is wet with dew,
my rlocks with the drops of the night.”
3 sI had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had tbathed my feet;
how could I soil them?
4 My beloved put his hand to the latch,
and my heart was thrilled within me.
5 I arose to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with uliquid myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he vspoke.
wI sought him, but found him not;
xI called him, but he gave no answer.
7 yThe watchmen found me
as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
they took away my veil,
those watchmen of the walls.
8 I zadjure you, O adaughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
bI am sick with love.
9 What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O cmost beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus zadjure us?
She
10 My beloved is radiant and druddy,
edistinguished among ten thousand.
11 His head is the finest gold;
fhis locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
12 His geyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
sitting beside a full pool.1
13 His icheeks are like jbeds of spices,
mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are klilies,
dripping uliquid myrrh.
set with ljewels.
His body is polished ivory,2
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like oLebanon,
choice as the cedars.
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O adaughters of Jerusalem.
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O cmost beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?
Together in the Garden of Love
She
2 My beloved has gone down to his qgarden
to rthe beds of spices,
and to gather tlilies.
3 uI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
he grazes among the lilies.
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
4 You are beautiful as vTirzah, wmy love,
zawesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me—
aYour hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
6 bYour teeth are like a flock of ewes
that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
not one among them has lost its young.
7 cYour cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
8 There are dsixty equeens and eighty econcubines,
and fvirgins without number.
9 My gdove, my hperfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to iher who bore her.
jThe young women saw her and called her blessed;
ethe queens and econcubines also, and they praised her.
10 k“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
lawesome as an army with banners?”
11 I went down to the nut orchard
to look at mthe blossoms of the valley,
nto see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 oBefore I was aware, my desire set me
among pthe chariots of my kinsman, a prince.2
13 3 Return, return, O qShulammite,
return, return, that we may look upon you.
He
Why should you look upon qthe Shulammite,
as upon ra dance before stwo armies?4
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O tnoble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like ujewels,
the work of va master hand.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with wlilies.
3 xYour two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your yneck is like an ivory tower.
Your zeyes are pools in aHeshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of bLebanon,
which looks toward cDamascus.
5 Your head crowns you like eCarmel,
and your fflowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.
6 gHow beautiful and hpleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!1
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like iclusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
9 and your jmouth2 like the best wine.
She
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.3
10 kI am my beloved’s,
land his desire is for me.
11 mCome, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;4
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
nand see whether the vines have budded,
whether othe grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 pThe mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
qnew as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
8 Oh that you were like a brother to me
who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and none would despise me.
2 I would lead you and rbring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you sspiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate.
3 tHis left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
4 I uadjure you, O vdaughters of Jerusalem,
wthat you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.