Song of Songs 5-8
Evangelical Heritage Version
I Have Come Into My Garden
The Man
5 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride.
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey.
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
Eat and Drink
The Friends Address the Couple[a]
Eat, friends! Drink!
Be intoxicated with love!
At Night. . .the Watchmen
The Woman
2 I was sleeping but my heart was awake.
A sound! My lover is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister,
my darling, my dove, my perfect one,
because my head is soaked with dew,
my locks with the dampness of the night.”
3 “I have taken off my robe.
Why should I get dressed again?
I have washed my feet.
Why should I get them dirty again?”
4 My lover thrust his hand
through the opening in the door.
My feelings were aroused for him.
5 I arose to open for my lover.
My hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.
6 I opened for my lover,
but my lover had left.
He was gone.
My spirits sank when he left.[b]
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him, but he did not answer.
7 The watchmen who patrol the city found me.
They beat me. They bruised me.
They took my shawl away from me,
those watchmen of the walls!
8 Daughters of Jerusalem, you must swear to me—
if you find my lover—
what will you tell him?
—that I am sick with love.
The Friends
9 What makes your lover better than any other lover,
most beautiful of women?
What makes your lover better than any other lover,
that you make us swear in this way?
My Lover Is Radiant
The Woman
10 My lover is radiant and ruddy,
outstanding among ten thousand.
11 His head is the best gold, the purest gold.
His locks are wavy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves by streams of water.
They are washed in milk.
They are set in sockets.
13 His cheeks are like a bed of spice,
like towers of perfumes.
His lips are lilies, dripping with liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold, set with topaz.[c]
His stomach is like polished ivory,
decorated with sapphires.[d]
15 His thighs are pillars of marble,[e]
set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as cedars.
16 His mouth is so sweet.
He is completely desirable.
This is my lover.
This is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
The Friends
6 Where has your lover gone,
most beautiful of women?
Where did your lover turn?
We will look for him with you.
I Am His. He Is Mine.
The Woman
2 My lover has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens,
and to gather lilies.
3 I am my lover’s, and my lover is mine.
He browses among the lilies.
You Are Beautiful
The Man
4 You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,[f]
lovely as Jerusalem,
majestic as troops with banners.
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
because they arouse me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
flowing down from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin. Not one of them is alone.
7 Your cheeks behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
8 There may be sixty queens,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number,
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is one of a kind.
She is the only daughter of her mother,
pure to the one who bore her.
The girls saw her and called her blessed.
The queens and concubines also praised her.
The Friends
10 Who is this woman that appears like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun,
majestic as the stars in procession?
A Puzzling Interlude
The Woman or The Man[g]
11 I went down to the grove of nut trees,
to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates had blossomed.
12 Before I realized it, my desire set me
among the chariots of my willing people.[h]
Beautiful From Bottom to Top
The Friends
13 Turn back, turn back, O Shulammite.
Turn back, turn back, so that we may look at you![i]
The Woman[j]
7 Why would you look at the Shulammite.
as at the dance of Mahanaim?[k]
The Friends or The Man
2 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O prince’s daughter!
Your hips are curved like a necklace,
the work of the hands of a craftsman.
3 Your navel is a round mixing bowl.
It never lacks blended wine.
Your belly is a mound of wheat, encircled by lilies.
4 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
5 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are the pools in Heshbon,
by the gate of Bat Rabbim.[l]
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,
overlooking Damascus.
6 Your head rises above you like Mount Carmel.
The flowing hair of your head is like purple.
The king is captivated by its curls.
The Man
7 How beautiful you are and how pleasing,
O loved one, daughter of delights![m]
8 Your height is like that of the date palm,
and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
9 I said, “I will climb the date palm.
I will take hold of its bunches of fruit.”
May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apples,
10a and your mouth like the best wine—
The Woman
10b —flowing to my lover,
gliding smoothly over lips and teeth.[n]
11 I belong to my lover,
and his desire is for me.
12 Come, my lover,
let us go to the fields.
Let us spend the night in the villages.
13 Let us go early to the vineyards.
We will see if the vines have budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
if the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give my love to you.
The mandrakes send out their fragrance.
At our door is every delicacy,
new as well as old,
that I have stored up for you, my lover.
He Embraces Me
The Woman
8 I wish that you were like a brother to me,
who was nursed at my mother’s breasts.
Then if I would meet you in public,
I could kiss you,
and no one would despise me.
2 I would lead you.
I would bring you to my mother’s house
where she used to teach me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranates.
3 His left arm is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.
4 Daughters of Jerusalem, you must swear
that you will not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.
The Friends
5 5a Who is this woman coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her lover?
The Wealth of Our House
The Woman
5b Under the apple tree I roused you.
There your mother conceived you.
There she who gave birth to you was in labor.
6 Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm,
because love is as strong as death.
Its passion is as relentless as the grave.
Its flames are flames of fire, a mighty blaze.[o]
7 Many waters cannot quench such love.
Rivers cannot wash it away.
If a man were to offer all the wealth
of his house for love,
he would be utterly scorned.
The Brothers. . .Decorated With Silver
The Brothers
8 We have a little sister.
She has no breasts.
What shall we make for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?
9 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.
My Own Vineyard
The Woman
10 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers.
Thus I have become in his eyes
like one who delivers contentment.
11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon.
He leased his vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for its fruit
a thousand shekels of silver.
12 But my own vineyard is before me.
The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.
The Last Call to Love
The Man
13 You who dwell in the gardens
with friends in attendance,
let me hear your voice!
Run Away With Me
The Woman
14 Run away, my love,
and be like a gazelle,
or like a young buck
on the mountains of spices.
Footnotes
- Song of Songs 5:1 The identity of the speaker and addressees is uncertain. Perhaps the man is speaking to some bystanders.
- Song of Songs 5:6 Or when he spoke
- Song of Songs 5:14 The identification of this gem is uncertain.
- Song of Songs 5:14 Perhaps lapis lazuli
- Song of Songs 5:15 Or alabaster
- Song of Songs 6:4 Tirzah is a city in Israel. Its name means delightful.
- Song of Songs 6:11 The identity of the speaker of these verses is uncertain.
- Song of Songs 6:12 This is a difficult verse of uncertain meaning.
- Song of Songs 6:13 English verse 6:13 is 7:1 in Hebrew. In the rest of chapter 7, the English verse numbers are one lower than the Hebrew verse numbers.
- Song of Songs 7:1 The identity of the speaker of this verse is uncertain.
- Song of Songs 7:1 Mahanaim is the name of a city. It means two camps. Here the term may refer to two lines of dancers.
- Song of Songs 7:5 Bat Rabbim means Daughter of Nobles.
- Song of Songs 7:7 The translation follows a textual variant supported by the ancient versions. The Hebrew text reads O love, with delights.
- Song of Songs 7:10 The reading lips and teeth is well attested by the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads lips of sleepers.
- Song of Songs 8:6 With alternate word division the text may be read the blaze of Yah. Yah is a short form of the divine name often written Yahweh.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.