Song of Solomon 1

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Cast Your Bread upon the Waters

11  fCast your bread upon the waters,

gfor you will find it after many days.

hGive a portion to iseven, or even to eight,

jfor you know not what disaster may happen on earth.

If the clouds are full of rain,

they empty themselves on the earth,

and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,

in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

He who observes the wind will not sow,

and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the way kthe spirit comes to lthe bones in the womb1 of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

In the morning sow your seed, and at evening mwithhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to nsee the sun.

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember othat the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is pvanity.2

qRejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. rWalk in the ways of your heart and sthe sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things tGod will bring you into judgment.

10 Remove vexation from your heart, and uput away pain3 from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

12 Remember also your Creator in vthe days of your youth, before wthe evil days come and the years draw near of which xyou will say, I have no pleasure in them; before ythe sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and zthose who look through the windows are dimmed, and athe doors on the street are shutwhen bthe sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all cthe daughters of song are brought low they are afraid also of what is high, and dterrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,1 and desire fails, because man is going to his eeternal fhome, and the gmourners go about the streets before the silver cord is snapped, or hthe golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is ishattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and jthe dust returns to the earth as it was, and kthe spirit returns to God lwho gave it. mVanity2 of vanities, says nthe Preacher; all is vanity.

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

Besides being wise, nthe Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging omany proverbs with great care. 10 nThe Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

11 pThe words of the wise are like goads, and like qnails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are rgiven by sone Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making umany books there is no end, and vmuch study is a weariness of the flesh.

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. wFear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.3 14 For xGod will bring every deed into judgment, with4 every secret thing, whether good or evil.

The Song of Solomon Illustration

The Song of Solomon

The Song of aSongs, which is Solomon’s.

The Bride Confesses Her Love

She1

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your blove is better than wine;

your canointing oils are fragrant;

your dname is oil poured out;

therefore virgins love you.

eDraw me after you; flet us run.

gThe king has brought me into his chambers.

Others

We will hexult and rejoice in you;

we will extol byour love more than wine;

rightly do they love you.

She

I am very dark, but ilovely,

O jdaughters of Jerusalem,

like kthe tents of lKedar,

like the curtains of Solomon.

Do not gaze at me because I am dark,

because the sun has looked upon me.

My mmother’s sons were angry with me;

they made me nkeeper of othe vineyards,

but pmy own vineyard I have not kept!

Tell me, you qwhom my soul loves,

where you rpasture your flock,

where you make it slie down at noon;

for why should I be like one who veils herself

beside the flocks of your tcompanions?

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

He

If you do not know,

O umost beautiful among women,

follow in the tracks of the flock,

and pasture your young goats

beside the shepherds’ tents.

I compare you, vmy love,

to wa mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

10  xYour cheeks are lovely with ornaments,

your neck with strings of jewels.

Others

11  We will make for you2 ornaments of gold,

studded with silver.

She

12  While ythe king was on his couch,

my znard gave forth its fragrance.

13  My beloved is to me a sachet of amyrrh

that lies between my breasts.

14  My beloved is to me a cluster of bhenna blossoms

in the vineyards of cEngedi.

He

15  dBehold, eyou are beautiful, fmy love;

behold, you are beautiful;

your geyes are doves.

She

16  Behold, you are beautiful, hmy beloved, truly idelightful.

Our couch is green;

17  the beams of our house are jcedar;

our rafters are jpine.

I am a rose1 of Sharon,

ka lily of the valleys.

He

As a lily among brambles,

so is lmy love among the young women.

She

As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

so is my mbeloved among the young men.

With great delight I sat nin his shadow,

and his ofruit was sweet to my taste.

He pbrought me to the banqueting house,2

and his qbanner over me was love.

Sustain me with rraisins;

refresh me with apples,

sfor I am sick with love.

His tleft hand is under my head,

and his right hand uembraces me!

I vadjure you,3 O wdaughters of Jerusalem,

by xthe gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

The Bride Adores Her Beloved

The voice of my beloved!

Behold, he comes,

leaping yover the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

My beloved is like za gazelle

or a young stag.

Behold, there he stands

behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

looking through the lattice.

10  My beloved speaks and says to me:

aArise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

11  for behold, the winter is past;

bthe rain is over and gone.

12  cThe flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing4 has come,

and the voice of dthe turtledove

is heard in our land.

13  eThe fig tree ripens its figs,

and fthe vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

gArise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.

14  O my hdove, in the iclefts of the rock,

in the crannies of the cliff,

let me see your face,

let me jhear your voice,

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is klovely.

15  Catch lthe foxes5 for us,

the little foxes

that spoil the vineyards,

ffor our vineyards are in blossom.

16  mMy beloved is mine, and I am his;

he ngrazes6 among the lilies.

17  Until othe day breathes

and pthe shadows flee,

turn, my beloved, be like qa gazelle

or a young stag on cleft mountains.7

The Bride’s Dream

On my bed rby night

I sought shim whom my soul loves;

tI sought him, but found him not.

I will rise now and go about the city,

in uthe streets and in the squares;

I will seek shim whom my soul loves.

I sought him, but found him not.

vThe watchmen found me

as they went about in the city.

Have you seen him whom my soul loves?

Scarcely had I passed them

when I found shim whom my soul loves.

I wheld him, and would not let him go

until I had xbrought him into my mother’s house,

and into the chamber of yher who conceived me.

zI adjure you, aO daughters of Jerusalem,

bby the gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

Solomon Arrives for the Wedding

cWhat is that coming up from the wilderness

like dcolumns of smoke,

perfumed with emyrrh and frankincense,

with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?

Behold, it is the litter1 of Solomon!

Around it are fsixty gmighty men,

some of the mighty men of Israel,

all of them wearing swords

and expert in war,

each with his hsword at his thigh,

against iterror by night.

King Solomon made himself a carriage2

from the wood of Lebanon.

10  He made its posts of silver,

its back of gold, its seat of purple;

its interior was inlaid with love

by jthe daughters of Jerusalem.

11  Go out, O kdaughters of Zion,

and look upon King Solomon,

with the crown with which his mother crowned him

on lthe day of his wedding,

on the day of the gladness of his heart.