Song of Songs 5:1-7:13

1He I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Friends Eat, friends, and drink; drink your fill of love. She

2I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

3I have taken off my robe— must I put it on again? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again?

4My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him.

5I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.

6I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. Or heart had gone out to him when he spoke I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer.

7The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls!

8Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you— if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love. Friends

9How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women? How is your beloved better than others, that you so charge us? She

10My beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.

11His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

12His eyes are like doves by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels.

13His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.

14His arms are rods of gold set with topaz. His body is like polished ivory decorated with lapis lazuli.

15His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars. 16His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.

1Friends Where has your beloved gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your beloved turn, that we may look for him with you? She

2My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies.

3I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies. He

4You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.

5Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead.

6Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is missing.

7Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.

8Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number;

9but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her. Friends

10Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession? He

11I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom.

12Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people. Or among the chariots of Amminadab; or among the chariots of the people of the prince Friends 13Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you! He Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim? In Hebrew texts this verse (6:13) is numbered 7:1.

1In Hebrew texts 7:1-13 is numbered 7:2-14. How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince’s daughter! Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of an artist’s hands.

2Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies.

3Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle.

4Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.

5Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. Your hair is like royal tapestry; the king is held captive by its tresses.

6How beautiful you are and how pleasing, my love, with your delights!

7Your stature is like that of the palm, and your breasts like clusters of fruit.

8I said, “I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples,

9and your mouth like the best wine. She May the wine go straight to my beloved, flowing gently over lips and teeth. Septuagint, Aquila, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew lips of sleepers

10I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.

11Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages. Or the henna bushes

12Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom— there I will give you my love. 13The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my beloved.