CHAPTER 1
1. The Song of Songs, which belongs to Shlomoh:
2. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, because your loves are better than wine;
Loves: abstract terms (“love”) in Hebrew are often expressed as plural. “Goodness” in the next verse is another example.
3. “to smell the ointments of your goodness [than the] emptied-out ointment [of] your name! That is why the maidens love you!
Ointments: literally, oils, but like the special anointing oil for the Levitical priests, sometimes the oils were infused with aromatic spices. Maidens: Many of them did become his wives or concubines.
4. “Drawn after you, we will run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will express joy and be glad with you! We will remember your love more than wine. Those who are upright love you!
5. “I am dark and lovely, O daughters of Yerushalayim. The tents of Q’dar are just like the curtains of Shlomoh.
Dark: or literally, black; apparently the term was used in as exaggerated a special sense as it is today of people whose skin is of various shades of brown but only literally black in a very few cases. Tents of Q’dar: made from black goats’ hair, which breathes to allow the air to flow in when dry and closes tightly together to keep the rain out when wet. Q’dar was Yishma’el’s second-born son, and the Bedouins continue to make tents much like this today.
6. “Don’t stare at me, because I am darkened, as the sun has caught sight of me. The children of my mother were angered at me; they made me caretaker of the vineyards. My own vineyard I have not taken care of.
Darkened: the same term is used today of tan-skinned women, the theme of a well-known S’fardic song. Caught sight of me: a poetic way to describe it “finding” her and “looking” on her, causing a dark tan, which was then common mainly in people who worked outdoors all the time, and was apparently not how most men preferred their beloved women to look. My own vineyard: i.e., she has not kept after her own appearance for the sake of getting her job done well.
7. “Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where do you pasture—where do you let your flocks stretch out [to rest] at noon? Why should I myself be like one who veils herself around the flocks of your friends?
Veils: using greater modesty because they are men whom she does not know well, or wants to let them know she is not available to them; it would be simpler if she could just stay near him and his flock while she is working outdoors, much as Shlomoh’s ancestress Ruth had done. Now begins Shlomoh’s response:
8. If you have not found out for yourself, O most beautiful of women, go out for yourself in the footprints of the flock and pasture your kids beside the shepherds’ dwellings.
Dwellings: the same term as that used for the Tabernacle. She replies again:
9. “For horses I have compared you to Pharaoh’s riders, my companion!”
Riders: or possibly, chariots, considering the context.
10. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, the back of your neck with a string of beads.
With ornaments: thus because of the parallel next phrase; alt., in their curvature; the term has to do with something circular.
11. We will make successive turnings of gold for you, with the studs of silver.
Studs: literally, dots.
12. “Until the king sits on his rounded cushion, my spikenard gives forth its aroma.
Spikenard: an especially-costly perfume.
13. “My beloved is a bundle of myrrh; he will lie all night between my breasts!
This poem is full of colorful metaphors.
14. A cluster of henna [flowers] is my beloved to me in the vineyards of Eyn Gedi.
Henna: or camphor, especially fragrant. Eyn Gedi: a fruitful area along the shore of the Dead Sea due to a small river that cascades down from the western escarpment of the Rift Valley.
15. Look at you, my companion—you are beautiful! So beautiful! Your eyes are doves!
16. “Look how handsome you are, my beloved! So handsome! Our couch is just luxuriant!
17. “The [fitted] beams of our house are of cedar; our rafters of cypress!”
Cedar and cypress: some of the best and most aromatic woods available.
CHAPTER 2
1. “I am a meadow-saffron of the Sharon, a lily of the valleys.”
Meadow-saffron: or crocus, which grows wild on the fertile Sharon, meaning “most level place”, the coastal plain running from the Mediterranean to Mt. Karmel and the Sh’felah. Abarim publications suggests that a breakdown of the Hebrew word for meadow-saffron may indicate “overshadowed by love”. Lily: or possibly daffodil or narcissus; the etymology of its Hebrew name indicates a six-petaled flower.
2. Like the lily among brambles, so is my companion among the daughters.
He may be referring both to her mistreatment by her family (1:6) and her beauty in comparison to everyone else around her in his eyes.
3. “Like an apple [tree] among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons; in his shade I found great delight and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my palate.
4. “He brought me into the house of wine, and his banner over me [was] love.
5. “Sustain me with raisin cakes; prop me up with the apples, because I am sick [with] love!
Sustain: or support; prop up: apparently due to the wine (v. 4), and the next verse shows a different form of support:
6. “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.
7. I put you under oath, O daughters of Yerushalayim, by the gazelle and by the doe of the field: if you either arouse or awaken love until it wishes…!
Gazelle and doe: both plural here in Hebrew. If you… (with unfinished sentence): the common format for swearing an oath. This is such an important charge, since “love is as strong as death” (8:6) once it is set in motion, and can leave in its wake great carnage if not handled properly, so it is best not to stir it up before the time is right and all the safeguards are in place.
8. “My beloved’s voice! Look! There he comes, climbing on the mountains, leaping over the hills!
9. “My beloved compares to a gazelle or a fawn of the deer; look at that one standing behind our wall! He is looking intently from the windows, glimmering through the lattices!
Glimmering: or showing himself, but in a way that glistens, possibly by flitting so that one can only catch a quick glimpse of him, as in a flirtation where one wants to be seen, yet at the same time does not.
10. “My beloved responded by saying to me, ‘Get up, my companion—my beautiful one—and come for a walk!’”
She has been describing his virtues to others, but almost does not notice when he is close at hand, right there wanting to be with her. How often do we do that to YHWH? (Cole Davis)
11. “Because, look! The season for hiding away is over; the rain is past, and he himself is going [for a walk].
Hiding away: i.e., staying indoors, as in winter. Spring, the “season of love”, has arrived:
12. "The blossoms can be seen on the earth; the time of singing has reached [us], and the voice of the turtledove can be heard in our land!"
13. The fig tree is spicing up its early fruit, along with the vine; its tender buds are putting forth [their] scent! Get up, and come for a walk, my lovely companion!
14. O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hidden places of the escarpment, let me see you appear! Let me hear your voice, because your voice is pleasing, and your appearance lovely!
15. Catch the foxes for us; the little foxes are the ones that ruin the vineyards, and our vineyard is in bud.
Ruin: specifically by twisting as with a rope; i.e., tangling up the vines so that the new growth is choked off.
16. “My beloved is mine and I am his. He feeds among the lilies.
17. “Until the day breaks and the shadows run away, turn, be for me like a gazelle or a fawn of the deer on the mountains of the cleft.
Breaks: or breathes—literally, puffs or snorts, as in waking up suddenly., Cleft: or split, divide. Gazelle, deer, and ibex can often be seen jumping across such a gap.
CHAPTER 3
1. “On my bed at night I was searching for the one whom my soul loves; I looked for him, but did not find him.
2. “Please, let me get up and go around the city, in the marketplaces and open squares. I will look for the one my soul loves; I have been looking for him, but have not found him!
3. “The watchmen who go around the city came upon me: ‘Have you seen the one whom my soul loves?’
4. “It wasn’t very long after I passed on from them until I found him whom my soul loves! I took hold of him and would not let go until I had brought him into my mother’s house—into the bedchamber of her who had conceived me.”
5. I put you under oath, O daughters of Yerushalayim, by the gazelle and by the doe of the field: if you either arouse or awaken love until it wishes…!
This bears repeating!
6. “Who is this that comes up out of the wilderness likes columns of smoke perfumed by myrrh and frankincense, with all the scented powders of the traveling merchant?
7. “Indeed, his litter is that of Shlomoh! 60 valiant men surround it—the heroes of Israel!
Litter: or couch, but in a caravan this would refer to the seat in which he was carried by four to six men.
8. “They all grasp swords, [being] well-trained [for] war, each one’s sword on his thigh due to [the] caution [required] at night.
9. “King Shlomoh made himself a sedan chair from Lebanese timbers!
10. “He made its pillars of silver, [each one’s] base of gold; his mounting-board is of purple, its interior fitted with love by the daughters of Yerushalayim!
11. “[You] daughters of Tzion, please come out and look at King Shlomoh in the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day—on the day his heart was glad!”
CHAPTER 4
1. Look how beautiful you are, my companion! Your eyes are doves. Behind your veil, your hair is like a flock of goats scampering down the trail from the mountains of Gil’ad!
2. Your teeth are like a flock of [newly-] shorn [sheep], fresh up from the washing; each of them has a twin and none of them is without it.
3. Your lips are like a scarlet cord, and your words are fitting; your temples are like a slice of pomegranate within your veil.
4. Your neck is like the Tower of David, built of rows of stones; a thousand bucklers hang on it, all [of them] shields of heroic men!
Rows of stones: the Yerushalayim neighborhood called Talpioth is named for this term. An alternate translation may be “armories”. Bucklers: small shields, usually round; the kind made famous by the six-pointed design associated with David is one of this type.
5. Your two breasts are like two fawns—a gazelle’s [young] twins, feeding among the lilies.
6. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, I will take myself to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense!
This seems to be another reference to her hill-like breasts.
7. You are completely beautiful, my companion, and there is not a defect in you!
8. From Levanon with me, O bride—come with me from Levanon! From the head[waters] of the Amanah, from the top of S’nir (that is, Khermon); from the dens of the lionesses, from the mountains of leopards!
S’nir: the Emorite name for Mt. Khermon, Israel’s highest peak, which is often snow-capped. Levanon itself means “the very white place” and has even more snow. Leopards: or tigers, but the habitat of the former is more likely to have extended into the Levant.
9. You have taken my heart, O bride, my sister! You have taken my heart with [just] one [glance] of your eyes, with one turning of your neck!
Taken: or ravished, but more literally, “un-hearted”. Turning of your neck: probably in an attractive twisting of some sort.
10. How lovely is your affection, O bride, my sister! How much better is your affection than wine, and the aroma of your perfumes better than any [other] spices!
11. Your lips drip [like] a honeycomb, O bride! Honey and milk are under your tongue, and the smell of your clothes are like Levanon.
Levanon: full of aromatic cedar trees.
12. A locked garden is my sister; [my] bride is a closed-off rock garden, a sealed-up spring.
She is off limits to everyone else.
13. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with spikenard.
14. Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all [kinds of] trees, frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the best spices.
Calamus: sweet cane (see photo). Best spices: literally, heads of balsam.
15. A fountain [for] gardens, a well of running water, and flowing out from Levanon [no less]!
16. “Awake, O north [wind] and come south; blow on my garden, so the spices may flow out! Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his choice fruits!”
She is inviting her bridegroom to partake of what is now rightfully his.
CHAPTER 5
1. I have entered my garden, my sister, [my] bride! I have plucked my myrrh with my balsam! I have eaten my honeycomb along with [the] honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk!
“Eat, friends! Drink and imbibe deeply, O beloved [ones]!”
Some see this last part as coming from YHWH Himself, who divided woman from man so that they could come back together at the right time. In any case, it is those who are in attendance at their wedding feast, during which time the bride and groom would go into their chamber to consummate the marriage, and would inform the friend of the bridegroom, who would then announce to the guests that the wedding was now complete.
2. “I was sleepy, but my heart has awakened! The voice of my beloved, knocking: ‘Open to me, my sister, my companion, my dove, my perfect one, since my head is filled with mist, my locks with the dew-drops of night!’
3. “I have taken off my tunic; how can I put it [back] on? I have washed my feet; how can I get them dirty [again]?
She was hesitant to get up at this time of night. Compare Luke 11:7, where Yeshua may have been alluding to this, because he described someone who kept knocking:
4. “My beloved sent forth his hand from the opening and my emotions made an uproar over him.
Emotions: or feelings, but literally, bowels or inward parts, probably her heart in particular, because the word for “uproar” can mean “pounding” or “boisterous”.
5. “I got up to open [the door] to my beloved, and my hands dripped myrrh, my fingers [with] surpassing[ly fine] myrrh, over handfuls of [my] locks.
She paused on the way to the door to perfume her hair to make herself especially appealing to him, but apparently delayed long enough for him to think she was not home or not awakening:
6. “I opened [the door] for my beloved, but he had turned away and passed on. My soul went out when he spoke; I looked for him, but could not find him. I called out to him, but he did not answer!
7. “The [night] watchmen who went around the city found me; they beat me and bruised me! The watchmen of the walls lifted my veil off of me.
Beat: They may have thought she was a prostitute walking the streets by night. Veil: or large wrap as to cover both head and shoulders.
8. “I put you under oath, O daughters of Yerushalayim: if you find my beloved, what you must tell him is that I am sick [with] love!”
Sick: or weakened, worn out, all my energy drained.
9. “How is your beloved [better] than [any other] beloved, O you [most] beautiful of women?
How is your beloved [better] than [any other] beloved, that you put us under an oath like this?”
10. “My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, noticeable among ten thousand!
Noticeable: conspicuous, easily picked out, literally as if identified with a waving flag.
11. “His head is [like] refined gold! His locks are piled high, black as a raven!
Piled high: or in clusters like dates, but from the reduplication of the word for a mound that covers the ruins of a city.
12. “His eyes are like doves over the watery ravines, washed in milk, set upon full [sockets].
Full sockets: similar to the term used for the stones to be set in Aharon’s breastplate. (Ex. 25:7)
13. “His cheeks are like a garden-bed of spices, towering herbs [full of a sweet scent]; his lips are lilies, dripping with surpassing[ly-fine] myrrh!
14. “His hands are like rolling folds of gold inlaid with [precious stones of] Tharshish. His abdomen is [like] polished ivory, overlaid with sapphires!
15. “His legs are [like] bolts of fine linen founded on sockets of the finest gold. His appearance is like Levanon, as choice as the cedars!
Bolts: literally, pillars or upright supports as for a mainsail, also made of a large piece of cloth. The cedars of Levanon, due to the northern-California-like climate at that time, may have grown as large as redwoods or Sequoia trees do now. Apparently Shlomoh was a towering man.
16. “His palate is the sweetest of things, and he is altogether desirable! This is my beloved, and this is my companion, O daughters of Yerushalayim!”
Desirable: the same root word from which the name Muhammad comes.
CHAPTER 6
1. “Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful of women? Where has your beloved turned aside, so that we may look for him along with you?”
2. “My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture [his flock] among the gardens and to pick lilies!
3. “I belong to my beloved and my beloved belongs to me; he pastures [his flock] among the lilies!”
The first phrase is used in Hebrew as an acronym of the month of Elul, which leads up to the Days of Awe and Sukkoth—a time when the King is said to be in the field and more approachable than the rest of the year. But these particular lilies bloom in Israel in the eleventh or twelfth month toward the end of winter.
4. My companion, you are as beautiful as Tirtzah, [as] lovely as Yerushalayim, [as] dreadful as an embannered [army]!
Tirtzah: one of the daughters of Tz’lofkhad. (Num. 27:1) It was also the name of a Kanaanite city which later served as an early capital of the Northern Kingdom (1 Kings 14-16) and was King Menakhem’s base of operations (2 Kings 15:14-16). Lovely: or, fitting, appropriate, becoming, making one feel at home. Embannered: decorated with banners uplifted.
5. Turn your eyes away, out of my sight, because they have captured me; your hair is like a flock of the goats that come capering [down] from the Gil’ad!
Captured: usually the term means to alarm, overwhelm, as with a storm, even frighten or confuse.
6. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that have just come up from being washed, each of which bears twins, and there is not one among them that is bereaved.
I.e., not one of her teeth is missing. But in a day without dentists, this may have been very special!
7. Your temple is like a slice of pomegranate from behind your veil.
Veil: or possibly locks.
8. 80 queens they are, and 80 concubines, and virgins without number!
9. My dove—she is unique! My perfect one—she is her mother’s only; she is pure to the one who gave birth to her. Her daughters saw her and wished her well; queens and concubines, and they raved about her!
10. Who is she who leans out to peek like the dawn—as beautiful as the moon, as pure as the hot [sun], [as] dreadful as an embannered [army]!
Peek: or look down, overlook something from above, such as from a window or balcony.
11. I went down into the garden of nut-bearing [trees], to see the fresh-green [shoots] of the seasonal stream-bed, to check on whether the vine had sprouted, whether the pomegranates had budded.
12. I was not aware [that] I was panting [as quickly as] the chariots of my generous people.
13. [7:1 in Hebrew] “Come back, come back, O Shulammite [woman]! Come back, come back, so we can gaze upon you!” What is there to gaze at [in] the Shulammite, as if the whirling of a pair of camps?
Shulammite: or possibly a proper name, Shulamith, which is based on the word for “peaceful”. Whirling: or dancing. Camps: or possible by extension, armies—i.e., their intermingling in battle. The term is Mahanayim, which is also the proper name of a place east of the Yarden where Yaaqov had his vision of two camps.
CHAPTER 7
1. How beautiful your footsteps [are] in sandals, O daughter of a nobleman! The curves of your thighs are like ornaments, the workmanship of a master craftsman.
Nobleman: from the word for “generous”, so this means “noble” in an ethical rather than political sense.
2. Your navel is [like] a round goblet, not lacking a mixed drink! Your belly is [like] a heap of wheat fenced about by lilies.
3. Your two breasts are like two young fawns, a gazelle’s twins.
4. The back of your neck is like a tower of ivory; your eyes are fishpools of Kheshvon by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. Your nose is like the Twoer of Levanon, which looks toward Damaseq.
Kheshvon is east of the Yarden River, in former Emorite territory but taken over by Y’hoshua and later inhabited by the tribe of Gad.
5. Your head upon you is like Karmel; the loose hairs of your head [dangle] like the purple of a king, whose flowing is bound up [with a belt].
Karmel: the mountain range at the south rim of the Yezre’el Valley, which ends at the Mediterranean.
6. How beautiful and how pleasant is love, with [all its] exquisite delights!
7. This is what I compare your stature to: a palm tree, and your breasts [I compare] to clusters [of dates]!
8. I said, “I will go up to the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit stalks!” And please let your breasts be like clusters [on] the vine, and the scent of your face like apples!
Face: literally, nose—i.e., what he would smell while kissing her.
9. “Your palate, too, is like the best wine, flowing evenly toward my beloved. Gliding gently [through] sleepy lips.
Evenly: or peacefully.
10. “I belong to my beloved, and his longing is for me!”
This may be an allusion to Genesis 3:16, where the roles are reversed, the woman’s desire (the same word as “longing “ here) being to be one-up over her husband, in a sense conquering him, but here she yields gladly to his “overcoming” of her. This is masterful psychology, because what the woman longs for most is to be desired, while what the man wants is to be recognized as significant, to overcome the futility to which we have been subjected (Cole Davis), and gaining progeny through successfully wooing his mate is one way to accomplish something that will outlast him.
11. “Come, my beloved, let’s go out into the fields; let’s spend the night in the villages.
12. “Let’s get up early [and go] to the vineyard! Let’s see if the vine is sprouting, [if] the grape-blossoms are opening up, [if] the pomegranates have budded; there I will give you my loves.
13. “The mandrakes are giving forth their fragrance, and over our doorways are all [kinds of] choice [fruits], new and old. I’ve saved them all up, my beloved, for you!”
Mandrakes: considered aphrodisiacs, as seen in the story of Re’uven in Genesis 30:14-16. Doorways: literally, openings—possibly bodily orifices.
CHAPTER 8
1. “Who can make you like a brother to me, who nursed at my mother’s breasts? Then if I met you when I was out, I could kiss you, and no one would despise me.
It was socially acceptable for one to kiss a close relative in public, but not a potential mate until the time of the wedding.
2. “Then I would lead you away and bring you into the house of my mother who taught me; I would give you some wine to drink—the [kind] spiced with the juice of my pomegranate!
3. “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand can embrace me!
4. “I put you under oath, O daughters of Yerushalayim: how will you either arouse or awaken love before it wishes?”
5. Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved [for support]? Under the apple [tree] I awakened you; there your mother writhed in pain [over] you. There she went into labor [and] gave birth to you.
Awakened: or possibly, raised you (from infancy to maturity).
6. Set me like a seal over your heart—like a seal on your [strong] arm, because love is as fierce as death; jealousy—its sparks as severe as She’ol! Its flames are flashes of fire!
Seal: as with a signet ring--i.e., lock it away from anyone else. Fierce: or strong. Severe: or unyielding.
7. Many waters cannot extinguish love, nor can rivers overwhelm it! If a man were to give all the wealth of his household for love, he would be despised to scorn.
This fire no flood can quench.
8. “We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What should we do for our sister on the day when she will be spoken for?”
Spoken for: when her father and brothers arrange for her marriage—the custom of the day.
9. If she is a wall, we will build on her a palace of silver; if she is a door, we will wrap her with panels of cedar!
They would enhance her natural lack of attractiveness in some men’s eyes with accessories that would make her appealing.
10. “I am a wall, yet my breasts are like towers. Then I was, in his eyes, like a [woman] who finds total well-being.
11. “Shlomoh had a vineyard in Ba’al-Hamon. He put caretakers in charge of the vineyard; each [one] was to bring in a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit.
This may be what Yeshua was alluding to or building on in his parable in Luke 20:9-16.
12. “My vineyard—[the] one in front of me--is mine; O Shlomoh, do you have a thousand [of them], with two hundred [people] taking care of the fruit thereof?”
In front of me: or, on my face. She has finally been permitted to take care of her own vineyard (compare 1:6), making herself as attractive as she thinks she needs to be, bringing full closure to the “plot” of this story. And the object of her affections fully agrees:
13. O [woman] who lives in the garden, [your] companions pay attention to your voice; [now] let me hear it [too]!
14. “Hurry away, my beloved; make yourself like a gazelle or like a fawn of the deer on the mountains of [balsam] spices!”
She returns to the imagery she used in 2:8-17. The last thing heard in public is, essentially, “Come away with me, my love—while we are both able to go!” And so it may be when the Father tells His Son to go retrieve his bride; all who would detain her will be powerless to stop that “flight”. (Compare Yeshayahu/Isa. 26:20. Which is in the language of the wedding chamber, as in 1:4 above.)
THE
Song of Songs
OF KING SHLOMOH
INTRODUCTION: This is the holy book that fits the love song genre. It is uncertain which of his many brides King Shlomoh wrote this for (including her part of the conversation as well), though 1:5 narrows down the possibilities. For simplicity in determining who the speaker is in this series of responses, the woman’s words are in quotations, and Shlomoh’s not, since he is the narrating author. Some also see the book as an allegory of YHWH’s love for His bride, Israel. If so, that explains why it is traditionally read around Passover. Besides the springtime themes, this was when YHWH said to His bride who was held captive in Egypt, “Come away with Me, My love!” And it was at Passover that Yeshua told his students, in the words of the ancient Jewish betrothal ceremony, “I am going to prepare a place for you…I will come again and receive you to myself.”
Gazelle in Israel's Bashan region (Golan Hts.)
Eyn Gedi
A sedan chair built based on this text.
The Ottoman structure now known as the Tower of David
