Song of Solomon 5
1I have come to my garden, my sister bride,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 and become drunk with love⌟! ▼
▼Or “Drink and become drunk, O lovers!”
Maiden’s Dream: Seeking and Not Finding
2I was asleep but ▼▼Or “and”
my heart was awake.A sound! My beloved knocking! ▼
▼Or “The sound of my beloved knocking!”
“Open to me, my sister, my beloved,
my dove, my perfect one!
For my head is full of dew,
⌞my hair drenched from the moist night air⌟.” ▼
▼Literally “my locks with drops of night”
3I have taken off my tunic, ⌞must I put it on⌟? ▼
▼Literally “How will I put it on?”
I have bathed my feet, ⌞must I soil them⌟? ▼
▼Literally “How will I soil them?”
4My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,
and my inmost yearned for him.
5I myself arose to open to my beloved;
my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh
upon the handles of the bolt.
6I opened myself to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone; ▼
▼Or “my beloved had left; he was gone”
my heart sank ▼
▼Or “my soul left”
when he turned away. ▼▼Or “when he was speaking.” Translations equivocate on how to translate this verb, since there are two terms in Hebrew spelled identically: “to speak” and “to turn aside” (HALOT 1:210). The context suggests the latter
I sought him, but I did not find him;
I called him, but he did not answer me.
7The sentinels making rounds in the city found me;
they beat me, they wounded me;
they took my cloak ▼
▼Or “mantle”
away from me—⌞those sentinels on the walls⌟! ▼
▼Literally “the sentinels of the walls”
Adjuration Refrain
8I adjure you, ⌞O maidens of Jerusalem⌟, ▼▼Literally “O daughters of Jerusalem”
if you find my beloved, what will you tell him?
Tell him that I am ⌞lovesick⌟! ▼
▼Literally “sick with love”
Maiden’s Praise of Her Beloved
9⌞How is your beloved better than another lover⌟, ▼▼Literally “What is your beloved more than another beloved …?”
O most beautiful among women?
⌞How is your beloved better than another lover⌟, ▼
▼Literally “What is your beloved more than another beloved …?”
that you adjure us thus?
10My beloved is radiant and ⌞ruddy⌟, ▼
▼Literally “red”
distinguished ⌞among⌟ ▼
▼Literally “more than”
ten thousand. 11His head is gold, refined gold;
his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
12His eyes are like doves beside springs ▼
▼Or “streams”
of water,bathed in milk, ⌞set like mounted jewels⌟. ▼
▼Literally “dwelling in a setting”
,
▼▼Or “seated at a suitable mounting”
13His cheeks are like beds of spice, a tower of fragrances;
his lips are lilies dripping liquid myrrh.
14His arms are ⌞rods⌟ ▼
▼Literally “cylinders”
,
▼▼Or “rings”
of gold ⌞engraved with⌟ ▼▼Literally “filled with”
jewels;his belly ▼
▼Or “body”
is polished ivory covered with sapphires. ▼▼Or “works of ivory set with sapphire”
15His legs are columns of alabaster, ▼
▼Or “marble”
set on bases of gold;his appearance is like Lebanon, choice as ⌞its cedars⌟. ▼
▼Literally “the cedars”
16⌞His mouth⌟ ▼
▼Or “his palate”
is sweet,and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved;
this is my friend, ⌞O young women of Jerusalem⌟. ▼
▼Literally “O daughters of Jerusalem”
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