Song of Solomon 5:1–8:14
5 I ahave come to my garden, my bsister, my spouse;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
cI have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
(To His Friends)
Eat, O dfriends!
Drink, yes, drink deeply,
O beloved ones!
The Shulamite’s Troubled Evening
The Shulamite
2 I sleep, but my heart is awake;
It is the voice of my beloved!
eHe knocks, saying,
“Open for me, my sister, 1my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is covered with dew,
My 2locks with the drops of the night.”
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet;
How can I 3defile them?
By the 4latch of the door,
And my heart yearned for him.
5 I arose to open for my beloved,
And my hands dripped with myrrh,
My fingers with liquid myrrh,
On the handles of the lock.
But my beloved had turned away and was gone.
My 5heart leaped up when he spoke.
fI sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7 gThe watchmen who went about the city found me.
They struck me, they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls
Took my veil away from me.
8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
That you tell him I am lovesick!
9 What is your beloved
More than another beloved,
hO fairest among women?
What is your beloved
More than another beloved,
That you so 6charge us?
10 My beloved is white and ruddy,
7Chief among ten thousand.
11 His head is like the finest gold;
His locks are wavy,
And black as a raven.
12 iHis eyes are like doves
By the rivers of waters,
Washed with milk,
And 8fitly set.
13 His cheeks are like a bed of spices,
Banks of scented herbs.
His lips are lilies,
Dripping liquid myrrh.
Set with beryl.
His body is carved ivory
Inlaid with sapphires.
15 His legs are pillars of marble
Set on bases of fine gold.
His countenance is like Lebanon,
Excellent as the cedars.
Yes, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved,
And this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem!
6 Where has your beloved gone,
aO fairest among women?
Where has your beloved turned aside,
That we may seek him with you?
2 My beloved has gone to his bgarden,
To the beds of spices,
To feed his flock in the gardens,
And to gather lilies.
3 cI am my beloved’s,
And my beloved is mine.
He feeds his flock among the lilies.
Praise of the Shulamite’s Beauty
The Beloved
4 O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,
Lovely as Jerusalem,
Awesome as an army with banners!
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
For they have 1overcome me.
Your hair is dlike a flock of goats
Going down from Gilead.
6 eYour teeth are like a flock of sheep
Which have come up from the washing;
Every one bears twins,
And none is 2barren among them.
7 fLike a piece of pomegranate
Are your temples behind your veil.
And eighty concubines,
And gvirgins without number.
9 My dove, my hperfect one,
Is the only one,
The only one of her mother,
The favorite of the one who bore her.
The daughters saw her
And called her blessed,
The queens and the concubines,
And they praised her.
10 Who is she who looks forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
iAwesome as an army with banners?
11 I went down to the garden of nuts
To see the verdure of the valley,
jTo see whether the vine had budded
And the pomegranates had bloomed.
My soul had made me
As the chariots of 3my noble people.
13 Return, return, O Shulamite;
Return, return, that we may look upon you!
The Shulamite
What would you see in the Shulamite—
As it were, the dance of 4the two camps?
The Beloved
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
aO prince’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a skillful workman.
2 Your navel is a rounded goblet;
It lacks no 1blended beverage.
Your waist is a heap of wheat
Set about with lilies.
3 bYour two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
4 cYour neck is like an ivory tower,
Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
Which looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,
And the hair of your head is like purple;
A king is held captive by your tresses.
6 How fair and how pleasant you are,
O love, with your delights!
7 This stature of yours is like a palm tree,
And your breasts like its clusters.
8 I said, “I will go up to the palm tree,
I will take hold of its branches.”
Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
The fragrance of your 2breath like apples,
9 And the roof of your mouth like the best wine.
The Shulamite
The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved,
3Moving gently the 4lips of sleepers.
10 dI am my beloved’s,
And ehis desire is toward me.
Let us go forth to the field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards;
Let us fsee if the vine has budded,
Whether the grape blossoms are open,
And the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The gmandrakes give off a fragrance,
And at our gates hare pleasant fruits,
All manner, new and old,
Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.
8 Oh, that you were like my brother,
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I should find you outside,
I would kiss you;
I would not be despised.
2 I would lead you and bring you
Into the ahouse of my mother,
She who used to instruct me.
I would cause you to drink of bspiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.
(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)
3 cHis left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
4 dI charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
A Relative
5 eWho is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
I awakened you under the apple tree.
There your mother brought you forth;
There she who bore you brought you forth.
6 fSet me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
gJealousy as 1cruel as 2the grave;
Its flames are flames of fire,
3A most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
hIf a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.
8 iWe have a little sister,
And she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she is spoken for?
We will build upon her
A battlement of silver;
And if she is a door,
We will enclose her
With boards of cedar.
10 I am a wall,
And my breasts like towers;
Then I became in his eyes
As one who found peace.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;
jHe leased the vineyard to keepers;
Everyone was to bring for its fruit
A thousand silver coins.
12 My own vineyard is before me.
You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,
And those who tend its fruit two hundred.
13 You who dwell in the gardens,
The companions listen for your voice—
kLet me hear it!
And mbe like a gazelle
Or a young stag
On the mountains of spices.