"The Song of Songs of Solomon" (Chapter V in English)

1 Bridegroom: I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride;

I gather my myrrh and my spices,

I eat my honey and my sweetmeats,

I drink my wine and my milk.

Daughters of Jerusalem: Eat, friends; drink! Drink freely of love!

2 Bride: 2 I was sleeping, but my heart kept vigil;

I heard my lover knocking:

"Open to me, my sister, my beloved,

my dove, my perfect one!

For my head is wet with dew,

my locks with the moisture of the night."

3 I have taken off my robe,

am I then to put it on?

I have bathed my feet,

am I then to soil them?

4 My lover put his hand through the opening;

my heart trembled within me,

and I grew faint when he spoke.

5 I rose to open to my lover,

with my hands dripping myrrh:

With my fingers dripping choice myrrh

upon the fittings of the lock.

6 I opened to my lover -

but my lover had departed, gone.

I sought him but I did not find him;

I called to him but he did not answer me.

7 The watchmen came upon me

as they made their rounds of the city;

They struck me, and wounded me,

and took my mantle from me,

the guardians of the walls.

8 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

if you find my lover -

What shall you tell him?-

that I am faint with love.

9 Daughters of Jerusalem: How does your lover differ from any other,

O most beautiful among women?

How does your lover differ from any other,

that you adjure us so?

10 Bride: My lover is radiant and ruddy;

he stands out among thousands.

11 His head is pure gold;

his locks are palm fronds,

black as the raven.

12 His eyes are like doves

beside running waters,

His teeth would seem bathed in milk,

and are set like jewels.

13 His cheeks are like beds of spice

with ripening aromatic herbs.

His lips are red blossoms;

they drip choice myrrh.

14 His arms are rods of gold

adorned with chrysolites.

His body is a work of ivory

covered with sapphires.

15 His legs are columns of marble

resting on golden bases.

His stature is like the trees on Lebanon,

imposing as the cedars.

16 His mouth is sweetness itself;

he is all delight.

Such is my lover, and such my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.

"The Song of Songs of Solomon" (Chapter IV in English)

1 Bridegroom: Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,

ah, you are beautiful!

Your eyes are doves

behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down the mountains of Gilead.

2 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes to be shorn,

which come up from the washing,

All of them big with twins,

none of them thin and barren.

3 Your lips are like a scarlet strand;

your mouth is lovely.

Your cheek is like a half-pomegranate

behind your veil.

4 Your neck is like David's tower

girt with battlements;

A thousand bucklers hang upon it,

all the shields of valiant men.

5 Your breasts are like twin fawns,

the young of a gazelle

that browse among the lilies.

6 Until the day breathes cool and the shadows lengthen,

I will go to the mountain of myrrh,

to the hill of incense.

7 You are all-beautiful, my beloved,

and there is no blemish in you.

8 Come from Lebanon, my bride,

come from Lebanon, come!

Descend from the top of Amana,

from the top of Senir and Hermon,

From the haunts of lions,

from the leopards' mountains.

9 You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;

you have ravished my heart with one glance of your eyes,

with one bead of your necklace.

10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride,

how much more delightful is your love than wine,

and the fragrance of your ointments than all spices!

11 Your lips drip honey, my bride,

sweetmeats and milk are under your tongue;

And the fragrance of your garments

is the fragrance of Lebanon.

12 You are an enclosed garden, my sister, my bride,

an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed.

13 You are a park that puts forth pomegranates,

with all choice fruits;

14 Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,

with all kinds of incense;

Myrrh and aloes,

with all the finest spices.

15 You are a garden fountain, a well of water

flowing fresh from Lebanon.

16 Bride: Arise, north wind! Come, south wind!

blow upon my garden

that its perfumes may spread abroad.

Let my lover come to his garden

and eat its choice fruits.

"The Song of Songs of Solomon" (Chapter III in English)

1 Bride: On my bed at night I sought him

whom my heart loves -

I sought him but I did not find him.

2 I will rise then and go about the city;

in the streets and crossings I will seek

Him whom my heart loves.

I sought him but I did not find him.

3 The watchmen came upon me

as they made their rounds of the city:

Have you seen him whom my heart loves?

4 I had hardly left them

when I found him whom my heart loves.

I took hold of him and would not let him go

till I should bring him to the home of my mother,

to the room of my parent.

5 Bridegroom:I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and hinds of the field,

Do not arouse, do not stir up love

before its own time.

(Third Poem)

6  What is this coming up from the desert,

like a column of smoke

Laden with myrrh, with frankincense,

and with the perfume of every exotic dust?

7 Ah, it is the litter of Solomon;

sixty valiant men surround it,

of the valiant men of Israel:

8 All of them expert with the sword,

skilled in battle,

Each with his sword at his side

against danger in the watches of the night.

9 King Solomon made himself a carriage

of wood from Lebanon.

10 He made its columns of silver,

its roof of gold,

Its seat of purple cloth,

its framework inlaid with ivory.

11 Daughters of Jerusalem, come forth

and look upon King Solomon

In the crown with which his mother has crowned him

on the day of his marriage,

on the day of the joy of his heart.

"The Song of Songs of Solomon" ( Chapter II in English)

1 I am a flower of Sharon,

a lily of the valley.

2 Bridegroom: As a lily among thorns,

so is my beloved among women.

3 Bride: As an apple tree among the trees of the woods,

so is my lover among men.

I delight to rest in his shadow,

and his fruit is sweet to my mouth.

4 He brings me into the banquet hall

and his emblem over me is love.

5 Strengthen me with raisin cakes,

refresh me with apples,

for I am faint with love.

6 His left hand is under my head

and his right arm embraces me.

7 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and hinds of the field,

Do not arouse, do not stir up love

before its own time.

(Second Poem)

8 Bride: Hark! my lover-here he comes

springing across the mountains,

leaping across the hills.

9 My lover is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

Here he stands behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

peering through the lattices.

10 My lover speaks; he says to me,

"Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,

and come!

11 "For see, the winter is past,

the rains are over and gone.

12 The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of pruning the vines has come,

and the song of the dove is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree puts forth its figs,

and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.

Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,

and come!

14 "O my dove in the clefts of the rock,

in the secret recesses of the cliff,

Let me see you,

let me hear your voice,

For your voice is sweet,

and you are lovely."

15 Bride: Catch us the foxes, the little foxes

that damage the vineyards; for our vineyards are in bloom!

16 My lover belongs to me and I to him;

he browses among the lilies.

17 Until the day breathes cool and the shadows lengthen,

roam, my lover,

Like a gazelle or a young stag

upon the mountains of Bether.

"The Song of Songs of Solomon" (Chapter I in Spanish)

1 The Song of Songs of Solomon.

2 Bride: Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth!

More delightful is your love than wine!

3 Your name spoken is a spreading perfume -

that is why the maidens love you.

4 Draw me!-

Daughters of Jerusalem: We will follow you eagerly!

Bride: Bring me, O king, to your chambers.

Daughters of Jerusalem: With you we rejoice and exult,

we extol your love; it is beyond wine:

how rightly you are loved!

(First Poem)

5 Bride: I am as dark-but lovely,

O daughters of Jerusalem -

As the tents of Kedar,

as the curtains of Salma.

6 Do not stare at me because I am swarthy,

because the sun has burned me.

My brothers have been angry with me;

they charged me with the care of the vineyards:

my own vineyard I have not cared for.

7 Bride: Tell me, you whom my heart loves,

where you pasture your flock,

where you give them rest at midday,

Lest I be found wandering

after the flocks of your companions.

8 Bridegroom: If you do not know,

O most beautiful among women,

Follow the tracks of the flock

and pasture the young ones

near the shepherds' camps.

9 Bridegroom: To the steeds of Pharaoh's chariots

would I liken you, my beloved:

10 Your cheeks lovely in pendants,

your neck in jewels.

11 We will make pendants of gold for you,

and silver ornaments.

12 Bride: For the king's banquet

my nard gives forth its fragrance.

13 My lover is for me a sachet of myrrh

to rest in my bosom.

14 My lover is for me a cluster of henna

from the vineyards of Engedi.

15 Bridegroom: Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,

ah, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves!

16 Bride: Ah, you are beautiful, my lover -

yes, you are lovely.

Our couch, too, is verdant;

17 the beams of our house are cedars,

our rafters, cypresses.