The Song of Songs 1:1--4:16

Title/Superscription

1:1 Solomon’s Most Excellent Love Song.

The Desire for Love

The Beloved to Her Lover:

1:2 Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately!

For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine.

1:3 The fragrance of your colognes is delightful;

your name is like the finest perfume.

No wonder the young women adore you!

1:4 Draw me after you; let us hurry!

May the king bring me into his bedroom chambers!

The Maidens to the Lover:

We will rejoice and delight in you;

we will praise your love more than wine.

The Beloved to Her Lover:

How rightly the young women adore you!

The Country Maiden and the Daughters of Jerusalem

The Beloved to the Maidens:

1:5 I am dark but lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem,

dark like the tents of Qedar,

lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah.

1:6 Do not stare at me because I am dark,

for the sun has burned my skin.

My brothers were angry with me;

they made me the keeper of the vineyards.

Alas, my own vineyard I could not keep!

The Shepherd and the Shepherdess

The Beloved to Her Lover:

1:7 Tell me, O you whom my heart loves,

where do you pasture your sheep?

Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat?

Tell me lest I wander around

beside the flocks of your companions!

The Lover to His Beloved:

1:8 If you do not know, O most beautiful of women,

simply follow the tracks of my flock,

and pasture your little lambs

beside the tents of the shepherds.

The Beautiful Mare and the Fragrant Myrrh

The Lover to His Beloved:

1:9 O my beloved, you are like a mare

among Pharaoh’s stallions.

1:10 Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments;

your neck is lovely with strings of jewels.

1:11 We will make for you gold ornaments

studded with silver.

The Beloved about Her Lover:

1:12 While the king was at his banqueting table,

my nard gave forth its fragrance.

1:13 My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh

spending the night between my breasts.

1:14 My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms

in the vineyards of En-Gedi.

Mutual Praise and Admiration

The Lover to His Beloved:

1:15 Oh, how beautiful you are, my beloved!

Oh, how beautiful you are!

Your eyes are like doves!

The Beloved to Her Lover:

1:16 Oh, how handsome you are, my lover!

Oh, how delightful you are!

The lush foliage is our canopied bed;

1:17 the cedars are the beams of our bedroom chamber;

the pines are the rafters of our bedroom.

The Lily among the Thorns and the Apple Tree in the Forest

The Beloved to Her Lover:

2:1 I am a meadow flower from Sharon,

a lily from the valleys.

The Lover to His Beloved:

2:2 Like a lily among the thorns,

so is my darling among the maidens.

The Beloved about Her Lover:

2:3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

so is my beloved among the young men.

I delight to sit in his shade,

and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

The Banquet Hall for the Love-Sick

The Beloved about Her Lover:

2:4 He brought me into the banquet hall,

and he looked at me lovingly.

2:5 Sustain me with raisin cakes,

refresh me with apples,

for I am faint with love.

The Double Refrain: Embracing and Adjuration

2:6 His left hand caresses my head,

and his right hand stimulates me.

The Beloved to the Maidens:

2:7 I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields:

Do not awaken or arouse love until it pleases!

The Arrival of the Lover

The Beloved about Her Lover:

2:8 Listen! My lover is approaching!

Look! Here he comes,

leaping over the mountains,

bounding over the hills!

2:9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag.

Look! There he stands behind our wall,

gazing through the window,

peering through the lattice.

The Season of Love and the Song of the Turtle-Dove

The Lover to His Beloved:

2:10 My lover spoke to me, saying:

“Arise, my darling;

My beautiful one, come away with me!

2:11 Look! The winter has passed,

the winter rains are over and gone.

2:12 The pomegranates have appeared in the land,

the time for pruning and singing has come;

the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

2:13 The fig tree has budded,

the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance.

Arise, come away my darling;

my beautiful one, come away with me!”

The Dove in the Clefts of En-Gedi

The Lover to His Beloved:

2:14 O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

in the hiding places of the mountain crags,

let me see your face,

let me hear your voice;

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely.

The Foxes in the Vineyard

The Beloved to Her Lover:

2:15 Catch the foxes for us,

the little foxes,

that ruin the vineyards –

for our vineyard is in bloom.

Poetic Refrain: Mutual Possession

The Beloved about Her Lover:

2:16 My lover is mine and I am his;

he grazes among the lilies.

The Gazelle and the Rugged Mountains

The Beloved to Her Lover:

2:17 Until the dawn arrives and the shadows flee,

turn, my beloved –

be like a gazelle or a young stag

on the mountain gorges.

The Lost Lover is Found

The Beloved about Her Lover:

3:1 All night long on my bed

I longed for my lover.

I longed for him but he never appeared.

3:2 “I will arise and look all around throughout the town,

and throughout the streets and squares;

I will search for my beloved.”

I searched for him but I did not find him.

3:3 The night watchmen found me – the ones who guard the city walls.

“Have you seen my beloved?”

3:4 Scarcely had I passed them by

when I found my beloved!

I held onto him tightly and would not let him go

until I brought him to my mother’s house,

to the bedroom chamber of the one who conceived me.

The Adjuration Refrain

The Beloved to the Maidens:

3:5 I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields:

“Do not awake or arouse love until it pleases!”

The Royal Wedding Procession

The Speaker:

3:6 Who is this coming up from the desert

like a column of smoke,

like a fragrant billow of myrrh and frankincense,

every kind of fragrant powder of the traveling merchants?

3:7 Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch!

It is surrounded by sixty warriors,

some of Israel’s mightiest warriors.

3:8 All of them are skilled with a sword,

well-trained in the art of warfare.

Each has his sword at his side,

to guard against the terrors of the night.

3:9 King Solomon made a sedan chair for himself

of wood imported from Lebanon.

3:10 Its posts were made of silver;

its back was made of gold.

Its seat was upholstered with purple wool;

its interior was inlaid with leather by the maidens of Jerusalem.

3:11 Come out, O maidens of Zion,

and gaze upon King Solomon!

He is wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him

on his wedding day,

on the most joyous day of his life!

The Wedding Night: Praise of the Bride

The Lover to His Beloved:

4:1 Oh, you are beautiful, my darling!

Oh, you are beautiful!

Your eyes behind your veil are like doves.

Your hair is like a flock of female goats

descending from Mount Gilead.

4:2 Your teeth are like a flock of newly-shorn sheep

coming up from the washing place;

each of them has a twin,

and not one of them is missing.

4:3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread;

your mouth is lovely.

Your forehead behind your veil

is like a slice of pomegranate.

4:4 Your neck is like the tower of David

built with courses of stones;

one thousand shields are hung on it –

all shields of valiant warriors.

4:5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,

twins of the gazelle

grazing among the lilies.

4:6 Until the dawn arrives

and the shadows flee,

I will go up to the mountain of myrrh,

and to the hill of frankincense.

4:7 You are altogether beautiful, my darling!

There is no blemish in you!

The Wedding Night: Beautiful as Lebanon

4:8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,

come with me from Lebanon.

Descend from the crest of Amana,

from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon,

from the lions’ dens

and the mountain haunts of the leopards.

4:9 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride!

You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes,

with one jewel of your necklace.

4:10 How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!

How much better is your love than wine;

the fragrance of your perfume is better than any spice!

4:11 Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride,

honey and milk are under your tongue.

The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

The Wedding Night: The Delightful Garden

The Lover to His Beloved:

4:12 You are a locked garden, my sister, my bride;

you are an enclosed spring, a sealed-up fountain.

4:13 Your shoots are a royal garden full of pomegranates

with choice fruits:

henna with nard,

4:14 nard and saffron;

calamus and cinnamon with every kind of spice,

myrrh and aloes with all the finest spices.

4:15 You are a garden spring,

a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon.

The Beloved to Her Lover:

4:16 Awake, O north wind; come, O south wind!

Blow on my garden so that its fragrant spices may send out their sweet smell.

May my beloved come into his garden

and eat its delightful fruit!