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The Man Speaks to the Woman

Your feet are beautiful in sandals,
    you daughter of a prince.
Your round thighs are like jewels
    shaped by an artist.
Your navel is like a round drinking cup
    always filled with wine.
Your stomach is like a pile of wheat
    with lilies around it like a fence.
Your breasts are like two fawns.
    They are like twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon
    near the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon
    which looks toward Damascus.
Your head is like Mount Carmel.
    And your hair is like purple cloth.
    The king is captured in its folds.
You are beautiful.
    You are very pleasant.
    My love, you are full of delights!
You are tall like a palm tree.
    Your breasts are like its bunches of fruit.
I said, “I will climb up the palm tree.
    I will take hold of its fruit.”
Let your breasts be like bunches of grapes.
    Let the smell of your breath be like apples.
    And let your mouth be like the best wine.

The Woman Speaks to the Man

Let this wine go down sweetly for my lover.
    May it flow gently past the lips and teeth.
10 I belong to my lover,
    and he desires only me.
11 Come, my lover.
    Let’s go out into the country.
    Let’s spend the night in the fields.
12 Let’s go early to the vineyards.
    Let’s see if the buds are on the vines.
Let’s see if the blossoms have already opened
    and if the pomegranates have bloomed.
There I will give you my love.
13 The mandrake flowers give their sweet smell.
    And at our gates there are all the best fruits.
I have saved them for you, my lover,
    the old delights and the new.

[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