Song of Songs 1-8
Tree of Life Version
1 The song of songs[a] of Solomon
A Bride Sings of Her Lover
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine.
3 Your ointments have a pleasing fragrance.
Your name is poured out like perfume.
No wonder maidens love you!
4 Draw me after you, let us run!
The king has brought me into his chambers.
Chorus: Daughters of Zion
Let us rejoice and be glad in you;
let us extol your love more than wine.
Rightly do they love you!
The Bride
5 I am black, but beautiful,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked on me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me
and made me keeper of the vineyards;
my very own vineyard I have not kept.
7 Tell me, the one my soul loves,
where you graze your flock,
where you make it lie down at noon?
Why should I be as one veiled
beside the flocks of your companions?
The Lover and Bride Express Affection
8 If you yourself do not know,
O most beautiful among women,
go out yourself in the footsteps of the flock
and graze your kids by the shepherds’ tents.
9 I compare you, my darling,
to my mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of beads.
11 Ornaments of gold we will make for you
with spangles of silver.
12 While the king is on his couch,
my nard spreads its fragrance.[b]
13 My lover is my pouch of myrrh,
passing the night between my breasts.
14 My love is to me a spray of henna blooms
in the vineyards of En-gedi.
15 How lovely you are, my darling, how lovely!
Your eyes are doves.
16 How handsome you are, my lover!
Oh, so delightful!
Yes, our couch is luxuriant.
17 The beams of our houses are cedar trees,
our panels are cypress trees.
2 I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
2 Like a lily among thorns,
so is my darling among the daughters.
3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my lover among the sons.
In his shadow I delighted to sit,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He has brought me to the banquet house
and his banner over me is love.
5 Sustain me with raisin cakes,
refresh me with apples—
for I am weak with love.
6 His left hand is under my head
and his right hand embraces me.
7 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you,
by the gazelles and does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love until it delights.
8 The voice of my lover!
Behold, he is coming—
leaping over the mountains,
springing over the hills!
9 My lover is like a gazelle
or a young buck among the stags.
Look! He is standing behind our wall—
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 In response my lover said to me:
“Get yourself up, my darling,
my pretty one, and come, come![c]
11 For behold, the winter has past,
the rain is over, it has gone.
12 Blossoms appear in the land,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree ripens its early figs.
The blossoming vines give off their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling,
my pretty one, and come, come!
14 My dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in a secret place along the steep path,
let me see your form,
let me hear your voice.
For your voice is sweet
and your form is lovely.”
15 Catch the foxes for us—
the little foxes that ruin the vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom.
The Bride’s Revelry
16 My lover is mine, and I am his!
He grazes his flocks among the lilies.
17 Until the day cools
and the shadows flee away,
turn about, my lover,
like a gazelle or like a stag
upon the mountains of spices.
3 On my bed in the night
I longed for the one my soul loves.
I looked for him but did not find him.
2 I will get up and go about the city,
into the streets and into the squares.
I must seek the one my soul loves.
I looked for him but did not find him.
3 The guards patrolling the city found me.
“Have you seen the one my soul loves?”
4 Hardly had I passed beyond them
when I found the one my soul loves.
I held him, and I would not let him go,
until I brought him to my mother’s house,
to the chamber of her who conceived me.
5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you,
by the gazelles and does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it delights.
The King on his Wedding Day
6 Who is this—she who is coming up from the wilderness
like columns of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
with every powder of the merchant?
7 Behold, it is Solomon’s traveling couch—
around it are sixty warriors
from the warriors of Israel.
8 All of them wield a sword,
experts in war.
Each man with his sword on his thigh
against terrors of the night.
9 King Solomon has made for himself
a carriage from the trees of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver, its back of gold,
its seat of purple cloth,
its interior fitted out with love
by the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, daughters of Zion,
and gaze upon King Solomon,
with a wreath his mother placed on him
on the day of his marriage—
on the day of his heart’s joy.
The King Delights in His Bride
4 How lovely you are, my darling, how lovely!
Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of ewe goats
descending down from Mount Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
coming up from washing.
Each of them has a twin,
and none among them is missing.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread
and your speech is lovely.
Your temple is like a slice of pomegranate
behind your veil.
4 Like the tower of David is your neck,
built for weapons.
A thousand shields are hung on it
—all shields of warriors.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
like twin gazelles
grazing among the lilies.
6 Until the day cools
and the shadows flee away,
I will go to the mountain of myrrh
and to the hill of frankincense.
7 You are altogether lovely, my darling,
and no blemish is in you.[d]
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
come with me from Lebanon.
Watch from the top of Amana,
from the top of Senir, even Hermon,
from lions’ dens,
from mountains of leopards.
9 You have captivated my heart,
my sister, my bride—
you captivated me
with one of your eyes,
with one jewel from your necklace.
10 How delightful is your love,
my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your oils
better than all spices!
11 Your lips, my bride,
drip honey from the honeycomb.
Honey and milk
are under your tongue.
The scent of your garments
is like the aroma of Lebanon.
12 A locked garden is my sister, my bride,
an enclosed spring, a sealed fountain.
13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates
with choice fruit,
henna with nard
14 —nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon—
with all the trees of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
along with all the finest spices—
15 a garden spring,
a well of living water[e]
and flowing streams from Lebanon.
16 Awake, north wind,
and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,
Let its fragrance spread out.
Let my lover come into his garden
and eat its choicest fruit.
Awake and Waiting
5 I have come into my garden,
my sister, my bride.
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, O friends,
Drink, yes, drink your fill, O lovers!
2 I sleep, but my heart is awake.
A voice! My lover is knocking!
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my perfect one!
For my head is drenched with dew,
my locks with dewdrops of night.”
3 I have stripped off my coat.
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet.
How can I soil them?
4 My lover extended his hand through the opening
—my heart yearned for him.
5 I rose to open for my lover.
My hands dripped with myrrh,
yes, my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.
6 I opened to my lover—
but my lover had departed,
he was gone!
My soul went out to him when he spoke.
I searched for him, but did not find him.
I called him, but he did not answer me.
7 The guards making rounds in the city found me.
They beat me, bruised me.
The guards on the walls took my veil from me.
8 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you,
if you should find my lover,
what will you tell him?
That I am sick from love!
9 How is your lover different from other lovers,
O most beautiful among women?
How is your lover different from other lovers
that you charge us so?
10 My lover is dazzling and ruddy,
standing out among ten thousand.
11 His head is purest gold,
his hair is wavy,
black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
washed with milk,
mounted in their settings.
13 His cheeks are like a bed of spice,
towers of sweet-scented perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with liquid myrrh.
14 His hands are rods of gold set with jasper.
His abdomen is carved ivory
inlaid with sapphires.
15 His legs are pillars of alabaster
set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon—
excellent like the cedars.
16 His mouth is sweetness.
Yes, he is totally desirable.
This is my lover! Yes, this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
6 Where has your lover gone,
most beautiful among women?
Where has your lover turned,
so we may seek him with you?
2 My lover went down to his garden,
to the beds of balsam
to graze his flocks in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.
He browses among the lilies.
Acclaiming the Bride’s Beauty
4 You are beautiful, my darling,
like Tirzah,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
for they overwhelm me!
Your hair is like a flock of ewe goats
descending down from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
that have come up from the washing.
Each of them has a twin,
and none among them is missing.
7 Your temple is like a slice of pomegranate
behind your veil.
8 There are sixty queens, eighty concubines,
and young women beyond number.
9 Yet my dove, my perfect one is unique.
She is her mother’s only one—
a virtuous child of the one who bore her.
Maidens saw her and called her blessed.
Queens and concubines praised her.
10 Who is this that appears like dawn?
As beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,
awesome as an army with banners.
11 I went down into the garden of nut trees
to look at the fruit of the valley,
to see if the vine had budded,
or the pomegranates had bloomed.
12 Before I was aware, my soul set me
among the chariots of my princely people.
7 Come back, come back, O Shulammite!
Come back, come back,
that we may look upon you.
Why do you gaze at the Shulammite
like the dance of Mahanaim?
2 How lovely are your sandaled feet,
O nobleman’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
the work of a craftsman’s hand.
3 Your navel is a round goblet,
may it not lack mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat
enclosed with lilies.
4 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
5 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are pools in Heshbon
near the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon
overlooking Damascus.
6 Your head crowns you like Carmel,
and the hair of your head like purple.
The king is captivated in its tresses!
7 How beautiful and how pleasing you are,
O Love, with your delights!
8 Your stature is like a date palm
and your breasts like its clusters.
9 I said, “I will climb the date palm
and take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apple.
The Bride’s Appeal
10 May your mouth be like the best wine,
going down smoothly for my beloved,
causing the lips of sleepers to speak.
11 I am my lover’s,
and his desire is for me.
12 Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the field.
Let us spend the night in the villages.
13 Let us go out early to the vineyards,
—let us see if the vine has budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
and if the pomegranates have bloomed—
there I will give you my love.
14 The mandrakes have given off fragrance,
and over our door is every choice fruit,
both new and old,
that I have stored up for you, my lover.
8 O, that you were like a brother to me,
who nursed at my mother’s breasts.
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me.
2 I would lead you
and bring you into my mother’s house—
she who has taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink
from the nectar of my pomegranate.
3 O that his left hand were under my head,
and his right hand embraced me.
4 I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem,
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so delights.
Protecting Love
5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her lover?
Under the apple tree I roused you.
There your mother travailed with you.
There she who was in labor gave you birth.
6 Set me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
jealousy as cruel as Sheol.
Its flames are bolts of fire,
the flame of Adonai.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
nor rivers wash it away.
If one gave all the wealth of his house for love,
it would be utterly despised.
8 We have a little sister,
still without breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a turret of silver.
If she is a door,
we will fence her in with cedar plank.
10 I am a wall,
and my breasts like towers.
Thus I have become in his eyes
as one bringing shalom.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon.
He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers.
Each was to bring for his fruit
a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My very own vineyard is before me.
The thousand are for you, Solomon,
and two hundred for those
who tend the fruit.
13 You who abide in the gardens,
friends are listening for your voice.
Let me hear it!
14 Come quickly, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!
Footnotes
- Song of Songs 1:1 Or, the best song.
- Song of Songs 1:12 cf. Mark 14:3; John 12:3.
- Song of Songs 2:10 cf. Acts 7:3.
- Song of Songs 4:7 Lit. there is no flaw in you; hyperbole.
- Song of Songs 4:15 cf. John 4:10.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.