LITV - Song of Solomon

Chapter 1

1:1  The song of songs which is Solomon's.

1:2  Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth; for Your loves are better than wine.

1:3  For Your ointments have a lovely fragrance; Your name is as ointment poured out; on account of this the virgins love You.

1:4  Draw me; we will run after You. The King has brought me into His chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in You; we will remember Your loves more than wine; the upright love You.

1:5  I am black, but comely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

1:6  Do not look at me, that I am black, that the sun has looked on me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard I have not kept.

1:7  Tell me, You whom my soul loves, where do You feed; where do You lie down at noon? For why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of Your companions?

1:8  If you yourself do not know, most beautiful among women, go in the footsteps of the flock. And feed your kids beside the tents of the shepherds.

1:9  O My love, I have compared you to My mares in Pharaoh's chariots.

1:10  Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with chains of beads .

1:11  We will make you ornaments of gold with studs of silver.

1:12  While the King is in His circle, my spikenard gives its fragrance.

1:13  A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved to me. He shall lie between my breasts.

1:14  My Beloved is to me like a cluster of henna in the vineyards of Engedi.

1:15  Behold, you are beautiful, My love. Behold, you are beautiful; your eyes as doves'.

1:16  Behold, you are beautiful, my Beloved; yea, pleasant. Also our couch is green.

1:17  The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are of firs.

Chapter 2

2:1  I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

2:2  As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.

2:3  As the apple among the trees of the forest, so is my Beloved among the sons. I delighted in His shadow, and I sat down; and His fruit was sweet to my taste.

2:4  He brought me to the house of wine, and His banner over me was love.

2:5  Feed me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.

2:6  His left hand is under my head, and His right hand embraces me.

2:7  I adjure you by the gazelles, and by the does of the field, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you do not stir up and do not awaken the Beloved until it pleases.

2:8  The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He comes leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills.

2:9  My Beloved is likened to a gazelle, or to a young deer, the stag. Behold, He stands behind our wall, looking from the windows, peering from the lattice.

2:10  My Beloved answered and said to me, Arouse yourself, My love, My beautiful one, and come away.

2:11  For, behold, the winter has passed, the rain has passed, it goes to itself.

2:12  The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come; and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

2:13  The fig tree spices her unripe figs, and the vines give a fragrance by the blossom. Arise, My love; come, My beautiful one, and come yourself.

2:14  My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secrecy of the steep place, let Me see your form. Let Me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your form is beautiful.

2:15  Take for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines; and our vineyards have blossoms.

2:16  My Beloved is mine, and I am His. He feeds among the lilies.

2:17  Until when does the day blow, and the shadows flee away? Turn, my Beloved, and be like a gazelle, or a young deer, the stag, on the cleft mountains.

Chapter 3

3:1  By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loves. I sought Him, but I did not find Him.

3:2  I will rise now and go about in the city, in the streets and in the broad places. I will seek Him whom my soul loves. I sought Him, but I did not find Him.

3:3  The watchmen going about in the city found me. I said , Have you seen Him my soul loves?

3:4  When I had passed on from them, it was a little while until I found Him whom my soul loves. I seized Him, and I did not let Him go until I had brought Him into my mother's house, and into the room of her who conceived me.

3:5  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, that you do not stir up, even that you not stir up the Beloved until it pleases.

3:6  Who is this who comes up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, burned with myrrh and frankincense, from all powders of the merchant?

3:7  Behold his bed, Solomon's! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel.

3:8  They all hold the sword, instructed in war; each man has his sword on his thigh from dread in the night.

3:9  King Solomon made himself a litter bed of the trees of Lebanon.

3:10  He made its poles of silver; its back of gold; its seat of purple; its middle was paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

3:11  Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, even on the day of the gladness of his heart.

Chapter 4

4:1  Behold, you are beautiful, My love. Behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are as doves' from behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats which lie down from Mount Gilead.

4:2  Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep which come up from the washing place; of which they all are bearing twins; and barrenness is not among them.

4:3  Your lips are like a cord of scarlet, and your speech is becoming; your temples are like a piece of pomegranate behind your veil.

4:4  Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory; a thousand bucklers hang on it, all the shields of the mighty men.

4:5  Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, feeding among the lilies.

4:6  Until when the day blows, and the shadows flee away, I myself will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hills of frankincense.

4:7  You are all beautiful, My love. There is no blemish on you.

4:8  Come with Me from Lebanon, My spouse; with Me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

4:9  You have ravished My heart, My sister, My spouse; you have ravished My heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.

4:10  How beautiful are your loves, My sister, My spouse! How much better are your loves than wine, and the scent of your ointments than all spices!

4:11  Your lips, My spouse, drip like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue. And the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.

4:12  A locked garden is My sister, My spouse; a rock heap locked up, a sealed fountain.

4:13  Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with excellent fruits, with henna and spikenard;

4:14  spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon; with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes; with all the chief balsam spices;

4:15  a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters; even flowings from Lebanon.

4:16  Awake, north wind ; yea, come, south wind ; blow on my garden; let its spices flow out. Let my Beloved come into His garden and eat its excellent fruits.

Chapter 5

5:1  I have come into My garden, My sister, My spouse; I have gathered My myrrh with My spice. I have eaten My honeycomb with My honey; I have drunk My wine with My milk. Eat and drink, O friends; yea, drink fully, beloved ones.

5:2  I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the sound of my Beloved that knocks, saying , Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled. For My head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.

5:3  I have stripped off My coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed My feet; how shall I soil them?

5:4  My Beloved sent His hand from the opening, and my inner being sighed for Him.

5:5  I rose up to open to my Beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh; yea, my fingers flowing with myrrh on the handles of the bolt.

5:6  I opened to my Beloved; but my Beloved had left; He passed on. My soul went out when He spoke; I sought Him, but I could not find Him. I called Him, but He did not answer me.

5:7  The watchmen who went about the city found me and struck me; they wounded me; the keepers of the walls lifted my veil from me.

5:8  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my Beloved, what do you tell Him? That I am sick with love.

5:9  What is your Beloved more than another Beloved, most beautiful among women? What is your Beloved more than another Beloved, that you adjure us so?

5:10  My Beloved is bright and ruddy, standing out among ten thousand.

5:11  His head is like refined gold; His locks are bushy and black as a raven.

5:12  His eyes are as the eyes of doves on the rivers of waters, washed with milk, sitting on a setting.

5:13  His cheeks are like a bed of spices, a raised bed of aromatic herbs. His lips are like lilies dropping flowing myrrh.

5:14  His hands are like rings of gold filled with jewels; His body an ivory plate overlaid with sapphires.

5:15  His legs are like pillars of marble founded on bases of fine gold; His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

5:16  His mouth is most sweet; and He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Chapter 6

6:1  Where has your Beloved gone, most beautiful among women? Where has your Beloved turned? For we seek Him along with you.

6:2  My Beloved has gone down to His garden, to the terraces of spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies.

6:3  I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine. He feeds among the lilies.

6:4  O My love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as bannered armies.

6:5  Turn away your eyes from Me, because they have overcome Me. Your hair is like a flock of goats that lie down from Gilead.

6:6  Your teeth are like a flock of ewes which come up from the washing place, of which they all are bearing twins, and barrenness is not among them.

6:7  Your temples behind your veil are like a piece of pomegranate.

6:8  Sixty of them are queens, and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.

6:9  But My dove, My perfect one is one alone . She is the only one to her mother; she is the choice of the one who bore her. The daughters saw her and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines saw her, and they praised her.

6:10  Who is she who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as bannered armies ?

6:11  I went down to the garden of nut trees, to see the greenery of the ravine, to see whether the vine flowered and the pomegranates budded.

6:12  I did not know, but my soul set me on the chariots of My princely people.

6:13  Return, return, O Shulamite! Return, return, that we may gaze upon you. What will you see in the Shulamite? As it were the dance of two army camps.

Chapter 7

7:1  How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince's daughter! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful worker.

7:2  Your navel is like a round goblet; it never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.

7:3  Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

7:4  Your neck is like an ivory tower; your eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, peering toward the face of Damascus.

7:5  Your head is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple cloth; the King is held captive in its tresses.

7:6  How beautiful and how pleasant you are in delights, O love!

7:7  Your stature compares to a palm tree, and your breasts to clusters of grapes.

7:8  I said, I will go up in the palm tree; I will take hold of its stalk. And please let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your nose like apples,

7:9  and the roof of your mouth like the best wine going down smoothly, for my Beloved, flowing softly over the lips of sleeping ones.

7:10  I am my Beloved's, and His desire is toward me.

7:11  Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us stay in the villages.

7:12  Let us rise up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flowers and the blossom opens, and the pomegranates bud forth. There I will give my loves to You.

7:13  The love apples give a scent, and over our doors are all excellent fruits ; new, also old, I have laid up for You, my Beloved.

Chapter 8

8:1  Who can give You to me, as my brother, who sucked the breasts of my mother? When I find You outside, I would kiss You. They also would not despise me.

8:2  I would lead You; I would bring You into my mother's house, that You might teach me; I would cause You to drink the spiced wine from the juice of my pomegranate.

8:3  His left hand would be under my head, and His right hand embracing me.

8:4  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem; why should you stir up or why should you awaken my love until it pleases?

8:5  Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree; there your mother travailed with you; there she travailed; she bore you.

8:6  Set me as a seal on Your heart, as a seal on Your arm. For love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as Sheol; its flames are flames of fire, a flame of Jehovah.

8:7  Many waters cannot quench love, nor will the rivers overflow it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, they surely would despise him.

8:8  We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day she shall be spoken for?

8:9  If she is a wall, we will build a turret of silver on her. And if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

8:10  I was a wall, and my breasts like towers; then I was in His eyes as one finding peace.

8:11  Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He let the vineyard out to keepers; for its fruit everyone was to bring a thousand of silver.

8:12  My vineyard which is mine is before me; the thousand is for you, O Solomon, and two hundred for the keepers of its fruit.

8:13  You who dwell in the gardens, the companions are listening to your voice; cause me to hear it .

8:14  Hurry, my Beloved, and be like a gazelle, or a young deer, the stag, on the mountains of spices.