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[The chorus of young women]

[a]How beautiful are your feet in their sandals, noble daughter!
    The curves of your thighs are like ornaments,
    like the work of an artist’s hands.
Your navel is a round bowl.
    May it always be filled with spiced wine.
    Your waist is a bundle of wheat enclosed in lilies.
Your breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is like an ivory tower.
    Your eyes are like pools in Heshbon, pools by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
    Your nose is like a Lebanese tower facing Damascus.
You hold your head as high as Mount Carmel.
    Your dangling curls are royal beauty.
    Your flowing locks could hold a king captive.

Solomon Longs for the Young Woman’s Affection

[Groom]

How beautiful and charming you are, my love, with your elegance.
Young woman,
    your figure is like a palm tree,
        and your breasts are like its clusters.
I thought, “I will climb the palm tree
    and take hold of its fruit.”
    May your breasts be like clusters on the vine.
    May the fragrance of your breath be like apples.
        May your mouth taste like the best wine . . .

[Bride]

    . . . that goes down smoothly to my beloved
        and glides over the lips of those about to sleep.[b]
10 I am my beloved’s, and he longs for me.
11 Come, my beloved.
    Let’s go into the field.
    Let’s spend the night among the henna flowers.[c]
12 Let’s go to the vineyards early.
    Let’s see if the vines have budded,
        if the grape blossoms have opened,
        if the pomegranates are in bloom.
    There I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes[d] give off a fragrance,
    and at our door are all kinds of precious fruits.
    I have saved new and old things
    for you alone, my beloved.

Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 7:1 Song of Songs 7:1–13 in English Bibles is Song of Songs 7:2–14 in the Hebrew Bible.
  2. Song of Solomon 7:9 Or “flowing gently over lips and teeth.”
  3. Song of Solomon 7:11 Or “in the villages.”
  4. Song of Solomon 7:13 Mandrakes were thought to stimulate sexual desire.

[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