Song of Solomon 7-8
English Standard Version
7 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.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with (D)lilies.
3 (E)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 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 toward (J)Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like (K)Carmel,
and your (L)flowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.
6 (M)How beautiful and (N)pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights![a]
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 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,
9 and your (P)mouth[b] like the best wine.
She
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.[c]
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
8 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.
2 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.
3 (Z)His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
4 I (AA)adjure you, O (AB)daughters of Jerusalem,
(AC)that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
5 (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 labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.
6 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.
7 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.
Final Advice
Others
8 We have a little sister,
and she (AJ)has no 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 battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with (AK)boards of cedar.
She
10 (AL)I was a wall,
and my (AM)breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds[h] peace.
11 Solomon had (AN)a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he (AO)let out the vineyard to (AP)keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit (AQ)a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and (AR)the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
He
13 (AS)O you who dwell in the gardens,
with (AT)companions listening for your voice;
(AU)let me hear it.
She
14 (AV)Make haste, my beloved,
and be (AW)like a gazelle
or a young stag
on (AX)the mountains of spices.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 7:6 Or among delights
- Song of Solomon 7:9 Hebrew palate
- Song of Solomon 7:9 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew causing the lips of sleepers to speak, or gliding over the lips of those who sleep
- Song of Solomon 7:11 Or among the henna plants
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Or ardor
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Hebrew as Sheol
- Song of Solomon 8:7 Or it
- Song of Solomon 8:10 Or brings out
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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