a lily of the valleys.
He
2 As a lily among brambles,
so is tmy love among the young women.
She
3 As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is umy beloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He vbrought me to the banqueting house,2
and his wbanner over me was love.
5 Sustain me with raisins;
refresh me with apples,
for xI am sick with love.
6 yHis left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
7 zI adjure you,3 O adaughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
The Bride Adores Her Beloved
8 The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is blike a 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:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
11 for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing4 has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in cblossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
14 O dmy dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
elet me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
15 Catch the foxes5 for us,
the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom.”
16 fMy beloved is mine, and I am his;
17 hUntil the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
or a young stag on cleft mountains.7
The Bride’s Dream
3 On my bed by night
I sought him iwhom my soul loves;
I jsought him, but found him not.
2 I will rise 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 found him not.
3 kThe watchmen found me
as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go
until I had lbrought him into my mother’s house,
and into the chamber of her who conceived me.
5 mI adjure you, O ndaughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
Solomon Arrives for the Wedding
6 oWhat is that coming up from the wilderness
like columns of smoke,
perfumed with pmyrrh and frankincense,
with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
7 Behold, it is the litter1 of qSolomon!
Around it are sixty mighty men,
some of the mighty men of Israel,
8 all of them wearing swords
and expert in war,
each with his sword at his thigh,
against terror by night.
9 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 the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, O daughters of Zion,
and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.
Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty
He
4 rBehold, syou are beautiful, tmy love,
behold, you are beautiful!
uYour eyes are doves
behind your vveil.
wYour hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
2 xYour teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
that have come up from the washing,
all of which bear twins,
and not one among them has lost its young.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
and your mouth is lovely.
yYour cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
4 zYour neck is like the tower of David,
built in rows of stone;1
on it hang a thousand shields,
all of them shields of warriors.
5 aYour two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle,
that bgraze among the lilies.
6 cUntil the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
I will go away to the dmountain of myrrh
and the hill of frankincense.
7 You are altogether beautiful, my love;
there is no flaw in you.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;
come with me from Lebanon.
Depart2 from the peak of Amana,
from the peak of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountains of leopards.
9 You have captivated my heart, emy sister, my bride;
you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love fthan wine,
and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
11 Your lips drip nectar, my bride;
ghoney and milk are under your tongue;
the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
a hspring locked, a fountain sealed.
13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates
with all ichoicest fruits,
14 nard and saffron, lcalamus and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense,
mmyrrh and aloes,
with all choice spices—
15 a garden fountain, a well of living water,
and flowing streams from Lebanon.
16 Awake, O north wind,
and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my ngarden,
let its spices flow.
Together in the Garden of Love
She
Let omy beloved come to his garden,
and eat its choicest fruits.
He
5 I came to my pgarden, qmy sister, my bride,
I gathered my myrrh with my spice,
I ate my honeycomb with my rhoney,
I drank my wine with my milk.
Others
Eat, friends, drink,
and be drunk with love!
The Bride Searches for Her Beloved
She
2 I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! sMy beloved is knocking.
“Open to me, my sister, tmy love,
umy dove, my perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night.”
3 I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had bathed my feet;
how could I soil them?
4 My beloved put his hand to the latch,
and my heart was thrilled within me.
5 I arose to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he spoke.
I vsought him, but found him not;
I called him, but he gave no answer.
7 wThe watchmen found me
as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
they took away my veil,
those watchmen of the walls.
8 I adjure you, O xdaughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
yI am sick with love.
Others
9 What is your beloved more than another beloved,
zO most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus adjure us?
The Bride Praises Her Beloved
She
10 My beloved is radiant and aruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand.
11 His head is the finest gold;
his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
12 bHis eyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
sitting beside a full pool.1
13 His cheeks are like cbeds of spices,
mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are lilies,
dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold,
set with jewels.
His body is polished ivory,2
bedecked with sapphires.3
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
Others
6 Where has your beloved gone,
eO most beautiful among women?
Where has fyour beloved turned,
that we may gseek him with you?
Together in the Garden of Love
She
2 My beloved has gone down to his hgarden
to the ibeds of spices,
to graze1 in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3 jI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
he kgrazes among the lilies.
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
4 lYou are beautiful as mTirzah, nmy love,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me—
oYour hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
6 pYour teeth are like a flock of ewes
that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
not one among them has lost its young.
7 qYour cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
and virgins without number.
9 rMy dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to her who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.
10 “Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
awesome as an army with banners?”
She
11 I went down to the nut orchard
to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to ssee whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 Before I was aware, my desire set me
among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.2
Others
13 3 Return, return, O Shulammite,
return, return, that we may look upon you.
He
Why should you look upon the Shulammite,
as upon a dance before two armies?4
