LUX VERITAS

Old Testament · Chapter 5 of 8

Song of Solomon 5

Shir HaShirim

I am come into my garden, my sister, {my} spouse: 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, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. {yea...: or, and be drunken with loves}

2I sleep, but my heart waketh: {it is} the voice of my beloved that knocketh, {saying}, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, {and} my locks with the drops of the night.

3I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

4My beloved put in his hand by the hole {of the door}, and my bowels were moved for him. {for him: or, (as some read) in me}

5I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped {with} myrrh, and my fingers {with} sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. {sweet...: Heb. passing, or, running about}

6I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, {and} was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

7The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I {am} sick of love. {that ye: Heb. what, etc}

9What {is} thy beloved more than {another} beloved, O thou fairest among women? what {is} thy beloved more than {another} beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

10My beloved {is} white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. {the chiefest: Heb. a standard-bearer}

11His head {is as} the most fine gold, his locks {are} bushy, {and} black as a raven. {bushy: or, curled}

12His eyes {are} as {the eyes} of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, {and} fitly set. {fitly...: Heb. sitting in fulness, that is, fitly placed, and set as a precious stone in the foil of a ring}

13His cheeks {are} as a bed of spices, {as} sweet flowers: his lips {like} lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. {sweet flowers: or, towers of perfumes}

14His hands {are as} gold rings set with the beryl: his belly {is as} bright ivory overlaid {with} sapphires.

15His legs {are as} pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance {is} as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

16His mouth {is} most sweet: yea, he {is} altogether lovely. This {is} my beloved, and this {is} my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. {mouth: Heb. palate}

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About Song of Solomon

Love poetry between two lovers, with no explicit moral and no mention of God. Read as an allegory of the covenant by Jews and Christians, and as what it appears to be by nearly everyone else.