Song of Solomon 6–8

CHAPTER 6

Solomon and His Bride Extol Each Other

¹“^1aWhere has your beloved gone,

O ^bmost beautiful among women?

Where has your beloved turned,

That we may seek him with you?”

²“¹My beloved has gone down to his ^agarden,

To the ^bbeds of spices,

To ^cshepherd his flock in the gardens

And gather ^dlilies.

³“^aI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,

He who ^bshepherds his flock among the lilies.”

⁴“^1aYou are as beautiful as ^bTirzah, my darling,

As ^clovely as ^dJerusalem,

As ^emajestic as ²an army with banners.

⁵“Turn your eyes away from me,

For they have overwhelmed me;

^aYour hair is like a flock of goats

That have leapt down from Gilead.

⁶“^aYour teeth are like a flock of ewes

Which have come up from their washing,

All of which bear twins,

And not one among them has ¹lost her young.

⁷“^aYour temples are like a slice of a pomegranate

Behind your veil.

⁸“There are sixty ^aqueens and eighty concubines,

And ^1bmaidens without number;

⁹She is the only one—^amy dove, my perfect one;

She is the only one of her mother;

She is the pure one of her who bore her.

The ^bdaughters saw her and called her blessed,

The ^cqueens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,

¹⁰‘Who is this that looks down like the dawn,

As beautiful as the full ^amoon,

As pure ^bas the sun,

As ^cmajestic as ¹an army with banners?’

¹¹“¹I went down to the garden of nut trees

To see the blossoms of the valley,

To see whether ^athe vine had flourished

Or the ^bpomegranates had bloomed.

¹²“I did not know it, but my soul set me

Among the chariots of ¹my noble people.”

¹³“¹²Come back, come back, O Shulammite;

Come back, come back, that we may behold you!”

“³Why should you behold the Shulammite,

As at the ^adance of ^4bthe two companies?

CHAPTER 7

¹“¹How beautiful are your ²feet in sandals,

O ^anoble’s daughter!

The curves of your thighs are like ornaments,

The work of the hands of an artist.

²“Your navel is like a round basin

Which never lacks mixed wine;

Your belly is like a heap of wheat

Encircled with lilies.

³“Your ^atwo breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle.

⁴“Your ^aneck is like a tower of ivory,

Your eyes like the pools in ^bHeshbon

By the gate of Bath-rabbim;

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,

Which faces toward Damascus.

⁵“Your head ¹crowns you like ^aCarmel,

And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads;

The king is captivated by your tresses.

⁶“How ^abeautiful and how pleasant you are,

¹My love, with all your pleasures!

⁷“¹Your stature is like a palm tree,

And your breasts are like its clusters.

⁸“I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree;

I will seize its fruit stalks.’

Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,

And the fragrance of your ¹breath like ^2aapples,

⁹And your ^1amouth like the best wine!”

“²It ^bgoes down smoothly for my beloved,

Flowing gently through the lips of those who fall asleep.

The Union of Love

¹⁰“^aI am my beloved’s,

And his ^bdesire is for me.

¹¹“Come, my beloved, let us go out into the ¹fields,

Let us spend the night in the villages.

¹²“Let us rise early and go to the vineyards;

Let us ^asee whether the vine has flourished

And its blossoms have opened,

And whether the pomegranates have bloomed.

There I will give you my love.

¹³“The ^amandrakes have given forth fragrance;

And over our doors are all ^bchoice fruits,

Both new and old,

Which I have treasured up for you, my beloved.

CHAPTER 8

The Power and Preciousness of Love

¹“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;

No one would despise me, either.

²“I would lead you and ^abring you

Into the house of my mother, who used to teach me;

I would give you spiced wine to drink from the sweet wine of my pomegranates.

³“Let ^ahis left hand be under my head

And his right hand embrace me.”

⁴“^1aI call you to solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,

²Why should you arouse or awaken my love

Until ³she pleases?”

⁵“^1aWho is this coming up from the wilderness

Leaning on her beloved?”

“²Beneath the ^3bapple tree I awakened you;

There your mother was in labor with you;

There she was in labor and gave you birth.

⁶“Put me like a ¹seal over your heart,

Like a ^aseal on your arm.

For love is as strong as death,

^2bJealousy is as severe as Sheol;

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

³The very flame of ⁴Yah.

⁷“Many waters cannot quench love,

Nor will rivers overflow it;

^aIf a man were to give all the riches of his house for love,

It would be utterly despised.”

⁸“¹We have a little sister,

And she ^ahas no breasts;

What shall we do for our sister

On the day when she is spoken for?

⁹“If she is a wall,

We will build on her a battlement of silver;

But if she is a door,

We will barricade her with ^aplanks of cedar.”

¹⁰“¹I was a wall, and ^amy breasts were like towers;

Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.

¹¹“Solomon had a ^avineyard at Baal-hamon;

He ^bgave the vineyard to ^ccaretakers.

Each one was to bring ¹one ^dthousand shekels of silver for its ^efruit.

¹²“My very own vineyard is before me;

The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,

And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit.”

¹³“¹O you who sit in the gardens,

My ^acompanions are giving heed to your voice—

^bLet me hear it!”

¹⁴“¹²Hurry, my beloved,

And be ^alike a gazelle or a young ³stag

On the ^bmountains of spices.”