Song of Solomon 5–7

5I have entered my garden,

my sweetheart, my bride.

I am gathering my spices and myrrh;

I am eating my honey and honeycomb;

I am drinking my wine and milk.

The Women

Eat, lovers, and drink

until you are drunk with love!

The Fourth Song

The Man

²While I slept, my heart was awake.

I dreamt my lover knocked at the door.

Let me come in, my darling,

my sweetheart, my dove.

My head is wet with dew,

and my hair is damp from the mist.

³I have already undressed;

why should I get dressed again?

I have washed my feet;

why should I get them dirty again?

⁴My lover put his hand to the door,

and I was thrilled that he was near.

⁵I was ready to let him come in.

My hands were covered with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh,

as I grasped the handle of the door.

⁶I opened the door for my lover,

but he had already gone.

How I wanted to hear his voice!

I looked for him, but couldn’t find him;

I called to him, but heard no answer.

⁷The watchmen patrolling the city found me;

they struck me and bruised me;

the guards at the city wall tore off my cape.

⁸Promise me, women of Jerusalem,

that if you find my lover,

you will tell him I am weak from passion.

⁹Most beautiful of women,

is your lover different from everyone else?

What is there so wonderful about him

that we should give you our promise?

¹⁰My lover is handsome and strong;

he is one in ten thousand.

¹¹His face is bronzed and smooth;

his hair is wavy,

black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are as beautiful as

doves by a flowing brook, doves washed in milk and standing by the stream.^f

¹³His cheeks are as lovely as a garden

that is full of herbs and spices.

His lips are like lilies,

wet with liquid myrrh.

¹⁴His hands are well formed,

and he wears rings set with gems.

His body is like smooth ivory,^g

with sapphires set in it.

¹⁵His thighs are columns of alabaster

set in sockets of gold.

He is majestic, like the Lebanon Mountains

with their towering cedars.

¹⁶His mouth is sweet to kiss;

everything about him enchants me.

This is what my lover is like,

women of Jerusalem.

6Most beautiful of women,

where has your lover gone?

Tell us which way your lover went,

so that we can help you find him.

²My lover has gone to his garden,

where the balsam trees grow.

He is feeding his flock in the garden

and gathering lilies.

³My lover is mine, and I am his;

he feeds his flock among the lilies.

The Fifth Song

⁴My love, you are as beautiful as Jerusalem,

as lovely as the city of Tirzah,

as breathtaking as these great cities.^h

⁵Turn your eyes away from me;

they are holding me captive.

Your hair dances, like a flock of goats

bounding down the hills of Gilead.

⁶Your 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.

⁷Your cheeks glow behind your veil.

⁸Let the king have sixty queens, eighty concubines,

young women without number!

⁹But 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.

¹⁰Who is this whose glance is like the dawn?

She is beautiful and bright,

as dazzling as the sun or the moon.ⁱ

¹¹I 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.

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

as a chariot driver is for battle.^j

¹³Dance, 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?

7What a wonderful woman you are!

How beautiful are your feet in sandals.

The curve of your thighs

is like the work of an artist.

²A bowl is there,

that never runs out of spiced wine.

A sheaf of wheat is there,

surrounded by lilies.

³Your 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.

⁵Your head is held high like Mount Carmel.

Your braided hair shines like the finest satin;

its beauty^l could hold a king captive.

⁶How pretty you are, how beautiful;

how complete the delights of your love.

⁷You are as graceful as a palm tree,

and your breasts are clusters of dates.

⁸I 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,

⁹and your mouth like the finest wine.

Then let the wine flow straight to my lover,

flowing over his lips and teeth.^m

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

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

and spend the night in the villages.ⁿ

¹²We 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.

¹³You 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.