1-9 Shapely and graceful your sandaled feet,
    and queenly your movement—
Your limbs are lithe and elegant,
    the work of a master artist.
Your body is a chalice,
    wine-filled.
Your skin is silken and tawny
    like a field of wheat touched by the breeze.
Your breasts are like fawns,
    twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is carved ivory, curved and slender.
    Your eyes are wells of light, deep with mystery.
    Quintessentially feminine!
Your profile turns all heads,
    commanding attention.
The feelings I get when I see the high mountain ranges
    —stirrings of desire, longings for the heights—
Remind me of you,
    and I’m spoiled for anyone else!
Your beauty, within and without, is absolute,
    dear lover, close companion.
You are tall and supple, like the palm tree,
    and your full breasts are like sweet clusters of dates.
I say, “I’m going to climb that palm tree!
    I’m going to caress its fruit!”
Oh yes! Your breasts
    will be clusters of sweet fruit to me,
Your breath clean and cool like fresh mint,
    your tongue and lips like the best wine.

The Woman

9-12 Yes, and yours are, too—my love’s kisses
    flow from his lips to mine.
I am my lover’s.
    I’m all he wants. I’m all the world to him!
Come, dear lover—
    let’s tramp through the countryside.
Let’s sleep at some wayside inn,
    then rise early and listen to bird-song.
Let’s look for wildflowers in bloom,
    blackberry bushes blossoming white,
Fruit trees adorned
    with cascading flowers.
And there I’ll give myself to you,
    my love to your love!

13 Love-apples drench us with fragrance,
    fertility surrounds, suffuses us,
Fruits fresh and preserved
    that I’ve kept and saved just for you, my love.

[a]How beautiful your sandaled feet,
    O prince’s(A) daughter!
Your graceful legs are like jewels,
    the work of an artist’s hands.
Your navel is a rounded goblet
    that never lacks blended wine.
Your waist is a mound of wheat
    encircled by lilies.
Your breasts(B) are like two fawns,
    like twin fawns of a gazelle.
Your neck is like an ivory tower.(C)
Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon(D)
    by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon(E)
    looking toward Damascus.
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.(F)
    Your hair is like royal tapestry;
    the king is held captive by its tresses.
How beautiful(G) you are and how pleasing,
    my love, with your delights!(H)
Your stature is like that of the palm,
    and your breasts(I) like clusters of fruit.
I said, “I will climb the palm tree;
    I will take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine,
    the fragrance of your breath like apples,(J)
    and your mouth like the best wine.

She

May the wine go straight to my beloved,(K)
    flowing gently over lips and teeth.[b]
10 I belong to my beloved,
    and his desire(L) is for me.(M)
11 Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
    let us spend the night in the villages.[c]
12 Let us go early to the vineyards(N)
    to see if the vines have budded,(O)
if their blossoms(P) have opened,
    and if the pomegranates(Q) are in bloom(R)
    there I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes(S) send out their fragrance,
    and at our door is every delicacy,
both new and old,
    that I have stored up for you, my beloved.(T)

Footnotes

  1. Song of Songs 7:1 In Hebrew texts 7:1-13 is numbered 7:2-14.
  2. Song of Songs 7:9 Septuagint, Aquila, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew lips of sleepers
  3. Song of Songs 7:11 Or the henna bushes

1-2 I wish you’d been my twin brother,
    sharing with me the breasts of my mother,
Playing outside in the street,
    kissing in plain view of everyone,
    and no one thinking anything of it.
I’d take you by the hand and bring you home
    where I was raised by my mother.
You’d drink my wine
    and kiss my cheeks.

3-4 Imagine! His left hand cradling my head,
    his right arm around my waist!
Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem:
    Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up,
    until the time is ripe—and you’re ready.

The Chorus

Who is this I see coming up from the country,
    arm in arm with her lover?

The Man

I found you under the apricot tree,
    and woke you up to love.
Your mother went into labor under that tree,
    and under that very tree she bore you.

The Woman

6-8 Hang my locket around your neck,
    wear my ring on your finger.
Love is invincible facing danger and death.
    Passion laughs at the terrors of hell.
The fire of love stops at nothing—
    it sweeps everything before it.
Flood waters can’t drown love,
    torrents of rain can’t put it out.
Love can’t be bought, love can’t be sold—
    it’s not to be found in the marketplace.
My brothers used to worry about me:

8-9 “Our little sister has no breasts.
    What shall we do with our little sister
    when men come asking for her?
She’s a virgin and vulnerable,
    and we’ll protect her.
If they think she’s a wall, we’ll top it with barbed wire.
    If they think she’s a door, we’ll barricade it.”

10 Dear brothers, I’m a walled-in virgin still,
    but my breasts are full—
And when my lover sees me,
    he knows he’ll soon be satisfied.

The Man

11-12 King Solomon may have vast vineyards
    in lush, fertile country,
Where he hires others to work the ground.
    People pay anything to get in on that bounty.
But my vineyard is all mine,
    and I’m keeping it to myself.
You can have your vast vineyards, Solomon,
    you and your greedy guests!

13 Oh, lady of the gardens,
    my friends are with me listening.
    Let me hear your voice!

The Woman

14 Run to me, dear lover.
    Come like a gazelle.
Leap like a wild stag
    on the spice mountains.

If only you were to me like a brother,
    who was nursed at my mother’s breasts!
Then, if I found you outside,
    I would kiss you,
    and no one would despise me.
I would lead you
    and bring you to my mother’s house(A)
    she who has taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
    the nectar of my pomegranates.
His left arm is under my head
    and his right arm embraces me.(B)
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:
    Do not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.(C)

Friends

Who is this coming up from the wilderness(D)
    leaning on her beloved?

She

Under the apple tree I roused you;
    there your mother conceived(E) you,
    there she who was in labor gave you birth.
Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love(F) is as strong as death,
    its jealousy[a](G) unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame.[b]
Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
    all the wealth of one’s house for love,
    it[c] would be utterly scorned.(H)

Friends

We have a little sister,
    and her breasts are not yet grown.
What shall we do for our sister
    on the day she is spoken for?
If she is a wall,
    we will build towers of silver on her.
If she is a door,
    we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

She

10 I am a wall,
    and my breasts are like towers.
Thus I have become in his eyes
    like one bringing contentment.
11 Solomon had a vineyard(I) in Baal Hamon;
    he let out his vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for its fruit
    a thousand shekels[d](J) of silver.
12 But my own vineyard(K) is mine to give;
    the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
    and two hundred[e] are for those who tend its fruit.

He

13 You who dwell in the gardens
    with friends in attendance,
    let me hear your voice!

She

14 Come away, my beloved,
    and be like a gazelle(L)
or like a young stag(M)
    on the spice-laden mountains.(N)

Footnotes

  1. Song of Songs 8:6 Or ardor
  2. Song of Songs 8:6 Or fire, / like the very flame of the Lord
  3. Song of Songs 8:7 Or he
  4. Song of Songs 8:11 That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms; also in verse 12
  5. Song of Songs 8:12 That is, about 5 pounds or about 2.3 kilograms