Song of Solomon 7-8
Holman Christian Standard Bible
7 How beautiful are your sandaled feet, princess
The curves of your thighs are like jewelry,
the handiwork of a master.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl;
it never lacks mixed wine.
Your waist[b] is a mound of wheat
surrounded by lilies.
3 Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.(B)
4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory,(C)
your eyes like pools in Heshbon
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
looking toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you[c] like Mount Carmel,
the hair of your head like purple cloth—
a king could be held captive(D) in your tresses.
6 How beautiful you are and how pleasant,(E)
my love, with such delights!
7 Your stature is like a palm tree;
your breasts are clusters of fruit.
8 I said, “I will climb the palm tree
and take hold of its fruit.”(F)
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
and the fragrance of your breath like apricots.(G)
9 Your mouth[d] is like fine wine(H)—
W flowing smoothly for my love,
gliding past my lips and teeth![e]
10 I belong to my love,
and his desire(I) is for me.(J)
11 Come, my love,
let’s go to the field;
let’s spend the night among the henna blossoms.[f]
12 Let’s go early to the vineyards;
let’s see if the vine has budded,
if the blossom has opened,
if the pomegranates are in bloom.(K)
There I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes(L) give off a fragrance,
and at our doors is every delicacy—
new as well as old.
I have treasured them up for you, my love.
8 If only I could treat you like my brother,[g]
one who nursed at my mother’s breasts,
I would find you in public and kiss you,
and no one would scorn me.
2 I would lead you, I would take you,
to the house of my mother(M) who taught me.[h]
I would give you spiced wine to drink
from my pomegranate juice.
3 His left hand is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.(N)
4 Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:
do not stir up or awaken love
until the appropriate time.(O)
5 Y Who is this(P) coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on the one she loves?
W I awakened you under the apricot tree.(Q)
There your mother conceived you;
there she conceived and gave you birth.
6 Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm.(R)
For love is as strong as death;(S)
ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol.
Love’s flames are fiery flames(T)—
the fiercest of all.[i]
7 Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If a man were to give all his wealth[j] for love,(U)
it would be utterly scorned.
8 B Our sister is young;
she has no breasts.(V)
What will we do for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build a silver parapet on it.
If she is a door,
we will enclose it with cedar planks.[k](W)
10 W I am[l] a wall
and my breasts like towers.
So in his eyes I have become
like one who finds peace.[m]
11 Solomon owned a vineyard in Baal-hamon.(X)
He leased the vineyard to tenants.(Y)
Each was to bring for his fruit
1,000 pieces of silver.(Z)
12 I have my own vineyard.[n](AA)
The 1,000 are for you, Solomon,
but 200 for those who guard its fruits.
13 M You[o] who dwell in the gardens—
companions(AB) are listening for your voice—
let me hear you!(AC)
14 W Hurry to me, my love,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.(AD)
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 7:1 Lit daughter of a nobleman or prince
- Song of Solomon 7:2 Or belly
- Song of Solomon 7:5 Lit head upon you is
- Song of Solomon 7:9 Lit palate
- Song of Solomon 7:9 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads past lips of sleepers
- Song of Solomon 7:11 Or the villages
- Song of Solomon 8:1 Lit Would that you were like a brother to me
- Song of Solomon 8:2 LXX adds and into the chamber of the one who bore me
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Or the blaze of the Lord
- Song of Solomon 8:7 Lit all the wealth of his house
- Song of Solomon 8:9 Vv. 8-9 may record what the girl’s brothers used to say.
- Song of Solomon 8:10 Or was
- Song of Solomon 8:10 In Hb, the word for peace sounds similar to Solomon and Shulammite.
- Song of Solomon 8:12 Lit My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; Sg 1:6
- Song of Solomon 8:13 In Hb, the word for You is feminine.
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