Song of Solomon 5–8

Chapter 5

Young Man

¹I have entered my garden, my treasure, my bride!

I gather myrrh with my spices

and eat honeycomb with my honey.

I drink wine with my milk.

Young Women of Jerusalem

Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink!

Yes, drink deeply of your love!

Young Woman

²I slept, but my heart was awake,

when I heard my lover knocking and calling:

“Open to me, my treasure, my darling,

my dove, my perfect one.

My head is drenched with dew,

my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³But I responded,

“I have taken off my robe.

Should I get dressed again?

I have washed my feet.

Should I get them soiled?”

⁴My lover tried to unlatch the door,

and my heart thrilled within me.

⁵I jumped up to open the door for my love,

and my hands dripped with perfume.

My fingers dripped with lovely myrrh

as I pulled back the bolt.

⁶I opened to my lover,

but he was gone!

My heart sank.

I searched for him

but could not find him anywhere.

I called to him,

but there was no reply.

⁷The night watchmen found me

as they made their rounds.

They beat and bruised me

and stripped off my veil,

those watchmen on the walls.

⁸Make this promise, O women of Jerusalem—

If you find my lover,

tell him I am weak with love.

Young Women of Jerusalem

⁹Why is your lover better than all others,

O woman of rare beauty?

What makes your lover so special

that we must promise this?

Young Woman

¹⁰My lover is dark and dazzling,

better than ten thousand others!

¹¹His head is finest gold,

his wavy hair is black as a raven.

¹²His eyes sparkle like doves

beside springs of water;

they are set like jewels

washed in milk.

¹³His cheeks are like gardens of spices

giving off fragrance.

His lips are like lilies,

perfumed with myrrh.

¹⁴His arms are like rounded bars of gold,

set with beryl.

His body is like bright ivory,

glowing with lapis lazuli.

¹⁵His legs are like marble pillars

set in sockets of finest gold.

His posture is stately,

like the noble cedars of Lebanon.

¹⁶His mouth is sweetness itself;

he is desirable in every way.

Such, O women of Jerusalem,

is my lover, my friend.

Chapter 6

Young Women of Jerusalem

¹Where has your lover gone,

O woman of rare beauty?

Which way did he turn

so we can help you find him?

Young Woman

²My lover has gone down to his garden,

to his spice beds,

to browse in the gardens

and gather the lilies.

³I am my lover’s, and my lover is mine.

He browses among the lilies.

Young Man

⁴You are beautiful, my darling,

like the lovely city of Tirzah.

Yes, as beautiful as Jerusalem,

as majestic as an army with billowing banners.

⁵Turn your eyes away,

for they overpower me.

Your hair falls in waves,

like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.

⁶Your teeth are as white as sheep

that are freshly washed.

Your smile is flawless,

each tooth matched with its twin.

⁷Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates

behind your veil.

⁸Even among sixty queens

and eighty concubines

and countless young women,

⁹I would still choose my dove, my perfect one—

the favorite of her mother,

dearly loved by the one who bore her.

The young women see her and praise her;

even queens and royal concubines sing her praises:

¹⁰“Who is this, arising like the dawn,

as fair as the moon,

as bright as the sun,

as majestic as an army with billowing banners?”

Young Woman

¹¹I went down to the grove of walnut trees

and out to the valley to see the new spring growth,

to see whether the grapevines had budded

or the pomegranates were in bloom.

¹²Before I realized it,

my strong desires had taken me to the chariot of a noble man.

Young Women of Jerusalem

¹³ Return, return to us, O maid of Shulam.

Come back, come back, that we may see you again.

Young Man

Why do you stare at this young woman of Shulam,

as she moves so gracefully between two lines of dancers?

Chapter 7

¹ How beautiful are your sandaled feet,

O queenly maiden.

Your rounded thighs are like jewels,

the work of a skilled craftsman.

²Your navel is perfectly formed

like a goblet filled with mixed wine.

Between your thighs lies a mound of wheat

bordered with lilies.

³Your breasts are like two fawns,

twin fawns of a gazelle.

⁴Your neck is as beautiful as an ivory tower.

Your eyes are like the sparkling pools in Heshbon

by the gate of Bath-rabbim.

Your nose is as fine as the tower of Lebanon

overlooking Damascus.

⁵Your head is as majestic as Mount Carmel,

and the sheen of your hair radiates royalty.

The king is held captive by its tresses.

⁶Oh, how beautiful you are!

How pleasing, my love, how full of delights!

⁷You are slender like a palm tree,

and your breasts are like its clusters of fruit.

⁸I said, “I will climb the palm tree

and take hold of its fruit.”

May your breasts be like grape clusters,

and the fragrance of your breath like apples.

⁹May your kisses be as exciting as the best wine—

Young Woman

Yes, wine that goes down smoothly for my lover,

flowing gently over lips and teeth.

¹⁰I am my lover’s,

and he claims me as his own.

¹¹Come, my love, let us go out to the fields

and spend the night among the wildflowers.

¹²Let us get up early and go to the vineyards

to see if the grapevines have budded,

if the blossoms have opened,

and if the pomegranates have bloomed.

There I will give you my love.

¹³There the mandrakes give off their fragrance,

and the finest fruits are at our door,

new delights as well as old,

which I have saved for you, my lover.

Chapter 8

Young Woman

¹Oh, I wish you were my brother,

who nursed at my mother’s breasts.

Then I could kiss you no matter who was watching,

and no one would criticize me.

²I would bring you to my childhood home,

and there you would teach me.

I would give you spiced wine to drink,

my sweet pomegranate wine.

³Your left arm would be under my head,

and your right arm would embrace me.

⁴Promise me, O women of Jerusalem,

not to awaken love until the time is right.

Young Women of Jerusalem

⁵Who is this sweeping in from the desert,

leaning on her lover?

Young Woman

I aroused you under the apple tree,

where your mother gave you birth,

where in great pain she delivered you.

⁶Place me like a seal over your heart,

like a seal on your arm.

For love is as strong as death,

its jealousy as enduring as the grave.

Love flashes like fire,

the brightest kind of flame.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love,

nor can rivers drown it.

If a man tried to buy love

with all his wealth,

his offer would be utterly scorned.

The Young Woman’s Brothers

⁸We have a little sister

too young to have breasts.

What will we do for our sister

if someone asks to marry her?

⁹If she is a virgin, like a wall,

we will protect her with a silver tower.

But if she is promiscuous, like a swinging door,

we will block her door with a cedar bar.

Young Woman

¹⁰I was a virgin, like a wall;

now my breasts are like towers.

When my lover looks at me,

he is delighted with what he sees.

¹¹Solomon has a vineyard at Baal-hamon,

which he leases out to tenant farmers.

Each of them pays a thousand pieces of silver

for harvesting its fruit.

¹²But my vineyard is mine to give,

and Solomon need not pay a thousand pieces of silver.

But I will give two hundred pieces

to those who care for its vines.

Young Man

¹³O my darling, lingering in the gardens,

your companions are fortunate to hear your voice.

Let me hear it, too!

Young Woman

¹⁴Come away, my love! Be like a gazelle

or a young stag on the mountains of spices.