Song of Solomon 7-8
New King James Version
Expressions of Praise
The Beloved
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
(A)O prince’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a skillful workman.
2 Your navel is a rounded goblet;
It lacks no [a]blended beverage.
Your waist is a heap of wheat
Set about with lilies.
3 (B)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
4 (C)Your neck is like an ivory tower,
Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
Which looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,
And the hair of your head is like purple;
A king is held captive by your tresses.
6 How fair and how pleasant you are,
O love, with your delights!
7 This stature of yours is like a palm tree,
And your breasts like its clusters.
8 I said, “I will go up to the palm tree,
I will take hold of its branches.”
Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
The fragrance of your [b]breath like apples,
9 And the roof of your mouth like the best wine.
The Shulamite
The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved,
[c]Moving gently the [d]lips of sleepers.
10 (D)I am my beloved’s,
And (E)his desire is toward me.
11 Come, my beloved,
Let us go forth to the field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards;
Let us (F)see if the vine has budded,
Whether the grape blossoms are open,
And the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The (G)mandrakes give off a fragrance,
And at our gates (H)are pleasant fruits,
All manner, new and old,
Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.
Lovers Reunited at Their Country Home
8 Oh, that you were like my brother,
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I should find you outside,
I would kiss you;
I would not be despised.
2 I would lead you and bring you
Into the (I)house of my mother,
She who used to instruct me.
I would cause you to drink of (J)spiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.
(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)
3 (K)His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
4 (L)I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
Love Renewed in Lebanon
A Relative
5 (M)Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
I awakened you under the apple tree.
There your mother brought you forth;
There she who bore you brought you forth.
The Shulamite to Her Beloved
6 (N)Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
(O)Jealousy as [e]cruel as [f]the grave;
Its flames are flames of fire,
[g]A most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
(P)If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.
The Shulamite’s Brothers
8 (Q)We have a little sister,
And she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
We will build upon her
A battlement of silver;
And if she is a door,
We will enclose her
With boards of cedar.
The Shulamite
10 I am a wall,
And my breasts like towers;
Then I became in his eyes
As one who found peace.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;
(R)He leased the vineyard to keepers;
Everyone was to bring for its fruit
A thousand silver coins.
(To Solomon)
12 My own vineyard is before me.
You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,
And those who tend its fruit two hundred.
The Beloved
13 You who dwell in the gardens,
The companions listen for your voice—
(S)Let me hear it!
The Shulamite
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 7:2 Lit. mixed or spiced drink
- Song of Solomon 7:8 Lit. nose
- Song of Solomon 7:9 Gliding over
- Song of Solomon 7:9 LXX, Syr., Vg. lips and teeth.
- Song of Solomon 8:6 severe, lit. hard
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Or Sheol
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Lit. A flame of Yah, poetic form of YHWH, the Lord
- Song of Solomon 8:14 Hurry, lit. Flee
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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