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How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
    O (A)noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like (B)jewels,
    the work of (C)a master hand.
Your navel is a rounded bowl
    that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
    encircled with (D)lilies.
(E)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle.
Your (F)neck is like an ivory tower.
Your (G)eyes are pools in (H)Heshbon,
    by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of (I)Lebanon,
    which looks towards (J)Damascus.
Your head crowns you like (K)Carmel,
    and your (L)flowing locks are like purple;
    a king is held captive in the tresses.
(M)How beautiful and (N)pleasant you are,
    O loved one, with all your delights![a]
Your stature is like a palm tree,
    and your breasts are like its clusters.
I say I will climb the palm tree
    and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like (O)clusters of the vine,
    and the scent of your breath like apples,
and your (P)mouth[b] like the best wine.

She

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
    gliding over lips and teeth.[c]
10 (Q)I am my beloved's,
    (R)and his desire is for me.

The Bride Gives Her Love

11 (S)Come, my beloved,
    let us go out into the fields
    and lodge in the villages;[d]
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
    (T)and see whether the vines have budded,
whether (U)the grape blossoms have opened
    and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 (V)The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
    and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
(W)new as well as old,
    which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

Longing for Her Beloved

Oh 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 none would despise me.
I would lead you and (X)bring you
    into the house of my mother—
    she who used to teach me.
I would give you (Y)spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranate.
(Z)His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
I (AA)adjure you, O (AB)daughters of Jerusalem,
    (AC)that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.
(AD)Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
    leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labour with you;
    there she who bore you was in labour.
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as (AE)a seal upon your arm,
for (AF)love is strong as death,
    (AG)jealousy[e] is fierce as the grave.[f]
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    the very (AH)flame of the Lord.
Many waters cannot quench love,
    neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
    all the wealth of his (AI)house,
    he[g] would be utterly despised.

Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 7:6 Or among delights
  2. Song of Solomon 7:9 Hebrew palate
  3. Song of Solomon 7:9 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew causing the lips of sleepers to speak
  4. Song of Solomon 7:11 Or among the henna plants
  5. Song of Solomon 8:6 Or ardour
  6. Song of Solomon 8:6 Hebrew as Sheol
  7. Song of Solomon 8:7 Or it