Song of Songs 5-6
Christian Standard Bible
Man
5 I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.
I gather[a] my myrrh with my spices.
I eat my honeycomb with my honey.
I drink my wine with my milk.
Narrator
Woman
2 I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My love was knocking!(B)
Man
Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my perfect one.
For my head is drenched with dew,
my hair with droplets of the night.
Woman
3 I have taken off my clothing.(C)
How can I put it back on?
I have washed my feet.
How can I get them dirty?
4 My love thrust his hand through the opening,
and my feelings were stirred for him.
5 I rose to open for my love.
My hands dripped with myrrh,(D)
my fingers with flowing myrrh
on the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my love,
but my love had turned and gone away.
My heart sank[c] because he had left.[d]
I sought him, but did not find him.(E)
I called him, but he did not answer.
7 The guards who go about the city found me.(F)
They beat and wounded me;
they took my cloak[e] from me—
the guardians of the walls.(G)
8 Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,(H)
if you find my love,
tell him that I am lovesick.(I)
Young Women
9 What makes the one you love better than another,
most beautiful of women?(J)
What makes him better than another,
that you would give us this charge?
Woman
11 His head is purest gold.
His hair is wavy[g](M)
and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves(N)
beside flowing streams,
washed in milk
and set like jewels.[h]
13 His cheeks(O) are like beds of spice,
mounds of[i] perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.(P)
14 His arms[j] are rods of gold
set[k] with beryl.(Q)
His body[l] is an ivory panel
covered with lapis lazuli.(R)
15 His legs are alabaster pillars
set on pedestals of pure gold.
His presence is like Lebanon,(S)
as majestic as the cedars.(T)
16 His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.(U)
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.
Young Women
6 Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way has he[m] turned?
We will seek him with you.
Woman
2 My love has gone down to his garden,(V)
to beds of spice,(W)
to feed in the gardens(X)
and gather lilies.(Y)
3 I am my love’s and my love is mine;(Z)
he feeds among the lilies.
Man
4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners.(AA)
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
for they captivate me.(AB)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead.(AC)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing.[n](AD)
7 Behind your veil,(AE)
your brow[o] is like a slice of pomegranate.
8 There are sixty queens
and eighty concubines(AF)
and young women[p] without number.
9 But my dove,(AG) my virtuous one, is unique;(AH)
she is the favorite of her mother,
perfect to the one who gave her birth.
Women see her and declare her fortunate;(AI)
queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:
10 Who is this(AJ) who shines like the dawn,
as beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners?(AK)
Woman
11 I came down to the walnut grove
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines were budding(AL)
and the pomegranates blooming.
12 I didn’t know what was happening to me.
I felt like I was
in a chariot with a nobleman.[q]
Young Women
13 Come back, come back, Shulammite![r]
Come back, come back, that we may look at you!
Man
Footnotes
- 5:1 Lit pluck
- 5:1 Or Drink your fill, lovers
- 5:6 Lit My soul went out
- 5:6 Or spoken
- 5:7 Or veil, or shawl
- 5:10 Or is radiant and ruddy
- 5:11 Or is like palm leaves; Hb obscure
- 5:12 Lit milk sitting in fullness
- 5:13 LXX, Vg read spice, yielding
- 5:14 Lit hands
- 5:14 Lit filled; Sg 5:2,12
- 5:14 Lit abdomen
- 6:1 Lit your love
- 6:6 Lit and no one bereaved among them
- 6:7 Or temple, or cheek, or lips
- 6:8 Or and virgins; Sg 1:3
- 6:12 Hb obscure
- 6:13 Or the perfect one, or the peaceable one
- 6:13 Or dance of Mahanaim
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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