Song of Solomon 6:4–8:4

The Fifth Song

The Man

4 My love, you are as beautiful as Jerusalem,

as lovely as the city of Tirzah,

as breathtaking as these great cities.h

5 Turn your eyes away from me;

they are holding me captive.

Your hair dances, like a flock of goats

bounding down the hills of Gilead.

6 Your teeth are as white as a flock of sheep

that have just been washed.

Not one of them is missing;

they are all perfectly matched.

7 Your cheeks glow behind your veil.

8 Let the king have sixty queens, eighty concubines,

young women without number!

9 But I love only one,

and she is as lovely as a dove.

She is her mother’s only daughter,

her mother’s favourite child.

All women look at her and praise her;

queens and concubines sing her praises.

10 Who is this whose glance is like the dawn?

She is beautiful and bright,

as dazzling as the sun or the moon.i

11 I have come down among the almond trees

to see the young plants in the valley,

to see the new leaves on the vines

and the blossoms on the pomegranate trees.

12 I am trembling; you have made me as eager for love

as a chariot driver is for battle.j

The Women

13 Dance, dance,k girl of Shulam. Let us watch you as you dance.

The Woman

Why do you want to watch me

as I dance between the rows of onlookers?

The Man

7 What a wonderful woman you are!

How beautiful are your feet in sandals.

The curve of your thighs

is like the work of an artist.

2 A bowl is there,

that never runs out of spiced wine.

A sheaf of wheat is there,

surrounded by lilies.

3 Your breasts are like twin deer,

like two gazelles.

4

Your neck is like a tower of ivory. Your eyes are like the pools in the city of Heshbon,

near the gate of that great city.

Your nose is as lovely as the tower of Lebanon

that stands guard at Damascus.

5 Your head is held high like Mount Carmel.

Your braided hair shines like the finest satin;

its beautyl could hold a king captive.

6 How pretty you are, how beautiful;

how complete the delights of your love.

7 You are as graceful as a palm tree,

and your breasts are clusters of dates.

8 I will climb the palm tree

and pick its fruit.

To me your breasts are like bunches of grapes,

your breath like the fragrance of apples,

The Woman

9 and your mouth like the finest wine.

Then let the wine flow straight to my lover,

flowing over his lips and teeth.m

10 I belong to my lover, and he desires me.

11 Come, darling, let’s go out to the countryside

and spend the night in the villages.n

12 We will get up early and look at the vines

to see

whether they’ve started to grow, whether the blossoms are opening

and the pomegranate trees are in bloom.

There I will give you my love.

13 You can smell the scent of mandrakes,

and all the pleasant fruits are near our door.

Darling, I have kept for you

the old delights and the new.

8 I wish that you were my brother,

that my mother had nursed you at her breast.

Then, if I met you in the street,

I could kiss you and no one would mind.

2 I would take you to my mother’s house,

where you could teach me love.

I would give you spiced wine,

my pomegranate wine to drink.

3 Your left hand is under my head,

and your right hand caresses me.

4 Promise me, women of Jerusalem,

that you will not interrupt our love.