Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty
He
1 Behold, myou are beautiful, my love,
behold, you are beautiful!
nYour eyes are doves
obehind your veil.
pYour hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down qthe slopes of Gilead.
2 Your rteeth 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 sa scarlet thread,
and your mouth is tlovely.
Your ucheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
obehind your veil.
4 Your vneck is like the tower of David,
on it xhang a thousand shields,
all of ythem shields of warriors.
5 Your ztwo breasts are like two afawns,
twins of a gazelle,
that bgraze among the lilies.
6 cUntil the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
I will go away to the mountain of dmyrrh
and the hill of dfrankincense.
7 eYou are altogether beautiful, my love;
there is no fflaw in you.
8 gCome with me from hLebanon, my ibride;
come with me from hLebanon.
Depart2 from the peak of Amana,
from the peak of jSenir and kHermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountains of leopards.
9 You have captivated my heart, my lsister, my bride;
you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one mjewel of your necklace.
10 How beautiful is your love, my lsister, my bride!
How much nbetter is your love than wine,
and othe fragrance of your oils than any spice!
11 Your plips drip nectar, my bride;
qhoney and milk are under your tongue;
the fragrance of your garments is rlike the fragrance of hLebanon.
12 A garden locked is my lsister, my bride,
a spring locked, sa fountain tsealed.
13 Your shoots are uan orchard of pomegranates
with all vchoicest fruits,
14 nard and saffron, ycalamus and ycinnamon,
with all trees of zfrankincense,
with all ychoice spices—
15 a garden fountain, a well of cliving water,
and flowing streams from hLebanon.
16 Awake, O north wind,
and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my dgarden,
let its spices flow.
Together in the Garden of Love
She
eLet my beloved come to his fgarden,
and eat its vchoicest fruits.
He
1 I gcame to my garden, my hsister, my bride,
I gathered my imyrrh with my spice,
I ate my jhoneycomb with my honey,
I kdrank my wine with my milk.
Others
Eat, lfriends, drink,
and be drunk with love!
The Bride Searches for Her Beloved
She
2 I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is mknocking.
“Open to me, my nsister, my olove,
for my head is wet with dew,
my rlocks with the drops of the night.”
3 sI had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had tbathed 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 uliquid 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 vspoke.
wI sought him, but found him not;
xI called him, but he gave no answer.
7 yThe 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 zadjure you, O adaughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
bI am sick with love.
Others
9 What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O cmost beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus zadjure us?
The Bride Praises Her Beloved
She
10 My beloved is radiant and druddy,
edistinguished among ten thousand.
11 His head is the finest gold;
fhis locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
12 His geyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
sitting beside a full pool.3
13 His icheeks are like jbeds of spices,
mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are klilies,
dripping uliquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold,
set with ljewels.
His body is polished ivory,4
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like oLebanon,
choice as the cedars.
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O adaughters of Jerusalem.
Others
1 Where has your beloved gone,
O cmost beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?
Together in the Garden of Love
She
2 My beloved has gone down to his qgarden
to rthe beds of spices,
and to gather tlilies.
3 uI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
he grazes among the lilies.
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
4 You are beautiful as vTirzah, wmy love,
zawesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me—
aYour hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
6 bYour 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 cYour cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
8 There are dsixty equeens and eighty econcubines,
and fvirgins without number.
9 My gdove, my hperfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to iher who bore her.
jThe young women saw her and called her blessed;
10 k“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
lawesome as an army with banners?”
She
11 I went down to the nut orchard
to look at mthe blossoms of the valley,
nto see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 oBefore I was aware, my desire set me
Others
13 9 Return, return, O qShulammite,
return, return, that we may look upon you.
He
Why should you look upon qthe Shulammite,
O God, Do Not Keep Silence
A Song. A Psalm of gAsaph.
1 O God, do not keep silence;
hdo not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2 For behold, your enemies imake an uproar;
those who hate you have jraised their heads.
3 They lay kcrafty plans against your people;
they consult together against your ltreasured ones.
4 They say, “Come, mlet us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
5 For they conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
6 the tents of nEdom and othe Ishmaelites,
7 rGebal and pAmmon and sAmalek,
tPhilistia with the inhabitants of uTyre;
8 vAsshur also has joined them;
they are the strong arm of wthe children of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them as you did to xMidian,
as to ySisera and Jabin at zthe river Kishon,
10 who were destroyed at aEn-dor,
who became bdung for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like cOreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like dZebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, e“Let us take possession for ourselves
of the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like fwhirling dust,1
like gchaff before the wind.
14 As hfire consumes the forest,
as the flame isets the mountains ablaze,
15 so may you pursue them jwith your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane!
16 kFill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be lput to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace,
18 that they may mknow that you alone,
nwhose name is the Lord,
are othe Most High over all the earth.