Song of Songs 7-8 New International Version

7 ^[a]How beautiful your sandaled feet,
    O prince’s^(A) daughter!
Your graceful legs are like jewels,
    the work of an artist’s hands.
²Your navel is a rounded goblet
    that never lacks blended wine.
Your waist is a mound of wheat
    encircled by lilies.
³Your breasts^(B) are like two fawns,
    like twin fawns of a gazelle.
⁴Your 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.
⁵Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.^(F)
    Your hair is like royal tapestry;
    the king is held captive by its tresses.
⁶How beautiful^(G) you are and how pleasing,
    my love, with your delights!^(H)
⁷Your stature is like that of the palm,
    and your breasts^(I) like clusters of fruit.
⁸I 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)
⁹    and your mouth like the best wine.

She

May the wine go straight to my beloved,^(K)
    flowing gently over lips and teeth.^[b]
¹⁰I belong to my beloved,
    and his desire^(L) is for me.^(M)
¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
    let us spend the night in the villages.^[c]
¹²Let 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.
¹³The 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)

8 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.
²I would lead you
    and bring you to my mother’s house^(U)—
    she who has taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
    the nectar of my pomegranates.
³His left arm is under my head
    and his right arm embraces me.^(V)
⁴Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:
    Do not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.^(W)

Friends

⁵Who is this coming up from the wilderness^(X)
leaning on her beloved?

She

Under the apple tree I roused you;
    there your mother conceived^(Y) you,
    there she who was in labor gave you birth.
⁶Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love^(Z) is as strong as death,
    its jealousy^[d]^(AA) unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame.^[e]
⁷Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
    all the wealth of one’s house for love,
    it^[f] would be utterly scorned.^(AB)

She

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

He

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

She

¹⁴Come away, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle^(AF)
or like a young stag^(AG)
on the spice-laden mountains.^(AH)

Footnotes

Song of Songs 7:1 In Hebrew texts 7:1-13 is numbered 7:2-14.
Song of Songs 7:9 Septuagint, Aquila, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew lips of sleepers
Song of Songs 7:11 Or the henna bushes
Song of Songs 8:6 Or ardor
Song of Songs 8:6 Or fire, / like the very flame of the Lord
Song of Songs 8:7 Or he
Song of Songs 8:11 That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms; also in verse 12
Song of Songs 8:12 That is, about 5 pounds or about 2.3 kilograms