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1:1The Song of songs, which is Solomon's.
Beloved
1:2Let him kiss me with the kisses of
his mouth;
For your love is better than wine.
1:3Your oils have a pleasing
fragrance.
Your name is oil poured forth,
Therefore the virgins love you.
1:4Take me away with you.
Let us hurry.
The king has brought me into his
chambers.
Friends
We will be glad and rejoice in you.
We will praise your love more than
wine!
Beloved
They are right to love you.
1:5I am dark, but lovely,
You daughters of Jerusalem,
Like Kedar's tents,
Like Solomon's curtains.
1:6Don't stare at me because I am
dark,
Because the sun has scorched me.
My mother's sons were angry with me.
They made me keeper of the vineyards.
I haven't kept my own vineyard.
1:7Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
Where you graze your flock,
Where you rest them at noon;
For why should I be as one who is
veiled
Beside the flocks of your companions?
Lover
1:8If you don't know, most beautiful
among women,
Follow the tracks of the sheep.
Graze your young goats beside the
shepherds' tents.
1:9I have compared you, my love,
To a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.
1:10Your cheeks are beautiful with
earrings,
Your neck with strings of jewels.
1:11We will make you earrings of gold,
With studs of silver.
Beloved
1:12While the king sat at his table,
My perfume spread its fragrance.
1:13My beloved is to me a sachet of
myrrh,
That lies between my breasts.
1:14My beloved is to me a cluster of
henna blossoms
From the vineyards of En Gedi.
Lover
1:15Behold, you are beautiful, my
love.
Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are doves.
Beloved
1:16Behold, you are beautiful, my
beloved, yes, pleasant;
And our couch is verdant.
Lover
1:17The beams of our house are cedars.
Our rafters are firs.
Beloved
2:1I am a rose of Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.
2:2As a lily among thorns,
So is my love among the daughters.
Beloved
2:3As the apple tree among the trees
of the wood,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight,
His fruit was sweet to my taste.
2:4He brought me to the banquet hall.
His banner over me is love.
2:5Strengthen me with raisins,
Refresh me with apples;
For I am faint with love.
2:6His left hand is under my head.
His right hand embraces me.
2:7I adjure you, daughters of
Jerusalem,
By the roes, or by the hinds of the
field,
That you not stir up, nor awaken love,
Until it so desires.
2:8The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
Leaping on the mountains,
Skipping on the hills.
2:9My beloved is like a roe or a
young hart.
Behold, he stands behind our wall!
He looks in at the windows.
He glances through the lattice.
2:10My beloved spoke, and said to me,
Rise up, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
2:11For, behold, the winter is past.
The rain is over and gone.
2:12The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing has come,
And the voice of the turtle-dove is
heard in our land.
2:13The fig tree ripens her green
figs.
The vines are in blossom;
They give forth their fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
And come away.
Lover
2:14My dove in the clefts of the rock,
In the hiding places of the
mountainside,
Let me see your face.
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet, and your
face is lovely.
2:15Catch for us the foxes,
The little foxes that spoil the
vineyards;
For our vineyards are in blossom.
Beloved
2:16My beloved is mine, and I am his.
He browses among the lilies.
2:17Until the day is cool, and the
shadows flee away,
Turn, my beloved,
And be like a roe or a young hart on
the mountains of Bether.
3:1By night on my bed,
I sought him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but I didn't find him.
3:2I will get up now, and go about
the city;
In the streets and in the squares I
will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but I didn't find him.
3:3The watchmen who go about the city
found me;
"Have you seen him whom my soul
loves?"
3:4I had scarcely passed from them,
When I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go,
Until I had brought him into my
mother's house,
Into the chamber of her who conceived
me.
3:5I adjure you, daughters of
Jerusalem,
By the roes, or by the hinds of the
field,
That you not stir up, nor awaken love,
Until it so desires.
3:6Who is this who comes up from the
wilderness like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all spices of the merchant?
3:7Behold, it is Solomon's carriage!
Sixty mighty men are around it,
Of the mighty men of Israel.
3:8They all handle the sword, and are
expert in war.
Every man has his sword on his thigh,
Because of fear in the night.
3:9King Solomon made himself a
carriage
Of the wood of Lebanon.
3:10He made its pillars of silver,
Its bottom of gold, its seat of
purple,
Its midst being paved with love,
From the daughters of Jerusalem.
3:11Go forth, you daughters of Zion,
and see king Solomon,
With the crown with which his mother
has crowned him,
In the day of his weddings,
In the day of the gladness of his
heart.
Lover
4:1Behold, you are beautiful, my love.
Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is as a flock of goats,
That descend from Mount Gilead.
4:2Your teeth are like a newly shorn
flock,
Which have come up from the washing,
Where every one of them has twins.
None is bereaved among them.
4:3Your lips are like scarlet thread.
Your mouth is lovely.
Your temples are like a piece of a
pomegranate behind your veil.
4:4Your neck is like David's tower
built for an armory,
Whereon there hang a thousand shields,
All the shields of the mighty men.
4:5Your two breasts are like two fawns
That are twins of a roe,
Which feed among the lilies.
4:6Until the day is cool, and the
shadows flee away,
I will go to the mountain of myrrh,
To the hill of frankincense.
4:7You are all beautiful, my love.
There is no spot in you.
4:8Come with me from Lebanon, my
bride,
With me from Lebanon.
Look from the top of Amana,
From the top of Senir and Hermon,
From the lions' dens,
From the mountains of the leopards.
4:9You have ravished my heart, my
sister, my bride.
You have ravished my heart with one
of your eyes,
With one chain of your neck.
4:10How beautiful is your love, my
sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than
wine!
The fragrance of your perfumes than
all manner of spices!
4:11Your lips, my bride, drip like
the honeycomb.
Honey and milk are under your tongue.
The smell of your garments is like
the smell of Lebanon.
4:12A locked up garden is my sister,
my bride;
A locked up spring,
A sealed fountain.
4:13Your shoots are an orchard of
pomegranates, with precious fruits:
Henna with spikenard plants,
4:14Spikenard
and saffron,
Calamus and cinnamon, with every kind
of incense tree;
Myrrh and aloes, with all the best
spices,
4:15A fountain
of gardens,
A well of living waters,
Flowing streams from Lebanon.
Beloved
4:16Awake, north wind; and come, you
south;
Blow on my garden, that its spices
may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden,
And taste his precious fruits.
Lover
5:1I have come into my garden, my
sister, my bride.
I have gathered my myrrh with my
spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my
honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
Friends
Eat, friends!
Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.
Beloved
5:2I was asleep, but my heart was
awake.
It is the voice of my beloved who
knocks:
Open to me, my sister, my love, my
dove, my undefiled;
For my head is filled with dew,
My hair with the dampness of the
night.
5:3I have taken off my robe. Indeed,
must I put it on?
I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I
soil them?
5:4My beloved thrust his hand in
through the latch opening.
My heart pounded for him.
5:5I rose up to open for my beloved.
My hands dripped with myrrh,
My fingers with liquid myrrh,
On the handles of the lock.
5:6I opened to my beloved;
But my beloved left; gone away.
My heart went out when he spoke.
I looked for him, but I didn't find
him.
I called him, but he didn't answer.
5:7The watchmen who go about the city
found me.
They beat me.
They bruised me.
The keepers of the walls took my
cloak away from me.
5:8I adjure you, daughters of
Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
That you tell him that I am faint
with love.
Friends
5:9How is your beloved better than
another beloved,
You fairest among women?
How is your beloved better than another beloved,
That you do so adjure us?
Beloved
5:10My beloved is white and ruddy.
The best among ten thousand.
5:11His head is like the purest gold.
His hair is bushy, black as a raven.
5:12His eyes are like doves beside
the water brooks,
Washed with milk, mounted like jewels.
5:13His cheeks are like a bed of
spices with towers of perfumes.
His lips are like lilies, dropping
liquid myrrh.
5:14His hands are like rings of gold
set with beryl.
His body is like ivory work overlaid
with sapphires.
5:15His legs are like pillars of
marble set on sockets of fine gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars.
5:16His mouth is sweetness;
Yes, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
Daughters of Jerusalem.
Friends
6:1Where has your beloved gone, you
fairest among women?
Where has your beloved turned, that
we may seek him with you?
Beloved
6:2My beloved has gone down to his
garden,
To the beds of spices,
To feed in the gardens, and to gather
lilies.
6:3I am my beloved's, and my beloved
is mine.
He browses among the lilies,
6:4You are beautiful, my love, as
Tirzah,
Lovely as Jerusalem,
Awesome as an army with banners.
6:5Turn away your eyes from me,
For they have overcome me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
That lie along the side of Gilead.
6:6Your teeth are like a flock of
ewes,
Which have come up from the washing;
Of which every one has twins;
None is bereaved among them.
6:7Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
6:8There are sixty queens, eighty
concubines,
And virgins without number.
6:9My dove, my perfect one, is unique.
She is her mother's only daughter.
She is the favorite one of her who
bore her.
The daughters saw her, and called her blessed,
The queens and the concubines, and
they praised her.
6:10Who is she who looks forth as the
morning,
Beautiful as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
Awesome as an army with banners?
6:11I went down into the nut tree
grove,
To see the green plants of the valley,
To see whether the vine budded,
And the pomegranates were in flower.
6:12Without realizing it,
My desire set me with my royal
people's chariots.
Friends
6:13Return, return, Shulammite!
Return, return, that we may gaze at
you.
Lover
Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite,
As at the dance of Mahanaim?
7:1How beautiful are your feet in
sandals, prince's daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a skillful
workman.
7:2Your body is like a round goblet,
No mixed wine is wanting.
Your waist is like a heap of wheat,
Set about with lilies.
7:3Your two breasts are like two
fawns,
That are twins of a roe.
7:4Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are like the pools in
Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim;
Your nose is like the tower of
Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.
7:5Your head on
you is like Carmel,
The hair of your head like purple;
The king is held captive in its
tresses.
7:6How beautiful and how pleasant are
you,
Love, for delights!
7:7This, your stature, is like a palm
tree,
Your breasts like its fruit.
7:8I said, "I will climb up into
the palm tree.
I will take hold of its fruit."
Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
The smell of your breath like apples,
Beloved
7:9Your mouth like the best wine,
That goes down smoothly for my
beloved,
Gliding through the lips of those who
are asleep.
7:10I am my beloved's.
His desire is toward me.
7:11Come, my beloved, let us go forth
into the field.
Let us lodge in the villages.
7:12Let's go early up to the
vineyards.
Let's see whether the vine has budded,
Its blossom is open,
And the pomegranates are in flower.
There I will give you my love.
7:13The mandrakes give forth
fragrance.
At our doors are all kinds of
precious fruits, new and old,
Which I have stored up for you, my
beloved.
8:1Oh that you were like my brother,
Who sucked the breasts of my mother!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you;
Yes, and no one would despise me.
8:2I would lead you, bringing you
into my mother's house,
Who would instruct me.
I would have you drink spiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.
8:3His left hand would be under my
head.
His right hand would embrace me.
8:4I adjure you, daughters of
Jerusalem,
That you not stir up, nor awaken love,
Until it so desires.
Friends
8:5Who is this who comes up from the
wilderness,
Leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I aroused you.
There your mother conceived you.
There she was in labor and bore you.
8:6Set me as a seal on your heart,
As a seal on your arm;
For love is strong as death.
Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol;
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
A very flame of Yahweh.
8:7Many waters can't quench love,
Neither can floods drown it.
If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love,
He would be utterly scorned.
Friends
8:8We have a little sister.
She has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she is to be spoken
for?
8:9If she is a wall,
We will build on her a turret of
silver.
If she is a door,
We will enclose her with boards of
cedar.
Beloved
8:10I am a wall, and my breasts like
towers,
Then I was in his eyes like one who
found peace.
8:11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal
Hamon.
He leased out the vineyard to keepers.
Each was to bring a thousand shekels
of silver for its fruit.
8:12My own vineyard is before me.
The thousand are for you, Solomon;
Two hundred for those who tend its
fruit.
Lover
8:13You who dwell in the gardens,
with friends in attendance,
Let me hear your voice!
Beloved
8:14Come away, my beloved!
Be like a gazelle or a young stag on
the mountains of spices!
© 2007 Anand Gholap, All Rights Reserved