The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Advertisement.
• Revisers’ Preface.
• Old Testament
• The First Book of Moses, Commonly Called Genesis.
• The Second Book of Moses, Commonly Called Exodus.
• The Third Book of Moses, Commonly Called Leviticus.
• The Fourth Book of Moses, Commonly Called Numbers.
• The Fifth Book of Moses, Called Deuteronomy.
• The Book of Joshua.
• The Book of Judges.
• The Book of Ruth.
• The First Book of Samuel.
• The Second Book of Samuel.
• The First Book of the Kings.
• The Second Book of the Kings.
• The First Book of the Chronicles.
• The Second Book of the Chronicles.
• Ezra.
• The Book of Nehemiah.
• The Book of Esther.
• The Book of Job.
• The Psalms.
• Book I.
• Book II.
• Book III.
• Book IV.
• Book V.
• The Proverbs.
• Ecclesiastes; Or, the Preacher.
• The Song of Songs.
• The Book of the Prophet Isaiah.
• The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah.
• The Lamentations of Jeremiah.
• The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel.
• The Book of Daniel.
• Hosea.
• Joel.
• Amos.
• Obadiah.
• Jonah.
• Micah.
• Nahum.
• Habakkuk.
• Zephaniah.
• Haggai.
• Zechariah.
• Malachi.
• Appendix.
• Classes of Passages.

THE SONG OF SONGS.

1

• • The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

  • 2

    Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth:
  • For thy love is better than wine.

  • 3

    Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance;
  • Thy name is as ointment poured forth;
  • Therefore do the 1 virgins love thee.

  • 4

    Draw me; we will run after thee:
  • The king hath brought me into his chambers:
  • We will be glad and rejoice in thee,
  • We will make mention of thy love more than of wine:
  • 2 Rightly do they love thee.

• • 5

    I am black, but comely,
  • O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
  • As the tents of Kedar,
  • As the curtains of Solomon.

  • 6

    Look not upon me, because I am swarthy,
  • Because the sun hath 3 scorched me.
  • My mother’s sons were incensed against me,
  • They made me keeper of the vineyards;
  • But mine own vineyard have I not kept.

  • 7

    Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,
  • Where thou feedest thy flock, where thou makest it to rest at noon:
  • For why should I be as one that 4 is veiled
  • Beside the flocks of thy companions?

• • 8

    If thou know not, O thou fairest among women,
  • Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,
  • And feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.

• • 9

    I have compared thee, O 5 my love,
  • 6 To a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.

  • 10

    Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair,
  • Thy neck with strings of jewels.

  • 11

    We will make thee plaits of gold
  • With studs of silver.

• • 12

    While the king sat at his table,
  • My spikenard sent forth its fragrance.

  • 13

    My beloved is unto me as a 7 bundle of myrrh,
  • That lieth betwixt my breasts.

  • 14

    My beloved is unto me as a cluster of 8 hennaflowers
  • In the vineyards of En-gedi.

• • 15

    Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;
  • 1 Thine eyes are as doves.

• • 16

    Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant:
  • Also our couch is green.

  • 17

    The beams of our 2 house are 3 cedars,
  • And our rafters are 4 firs.

2

• I am a 5 rose of 6 Sharon,
• A lily of the valleys.

• 2

  As a lily among thorns,
• So is my love among the daughters.

• 3

  As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
• So is my beloved among the sons.
• 7 I sat down under his shadow with great delight,
• And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

• 4

  He brought me to the 8 banqueting house,
• And his banner over me was love.

• 5

  Stay ye me with 9 raisins, comfort me with apples:
• For I am sick of love.

• 6

  10 His left hand is under my head,
• And his right hand doth embrace me.

• 7

  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
• By the 11 roes, and by the hinds of the field,
• That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
• Until it please.

• 8

  The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh,
• Leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

• 9

  My beloved is like a 12 roe or a young hart:
• Behold, he standeth behind our wall,
• He looketh in at the windows,
• He 13 sheweth himself through the lattice.

• 10

  My beloved spake, and said unto me,
• Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

• 11

  For, lo, the winter is past,
• The rain is over and gone;

• 12

  The flowers appear on the earth;
• The time of the 14 singing of birds is come,
• And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

• 13

  The fig tree ripeneth her green figs,
• And the vines are in blossom,
• They give forth their fragrance.
• Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

• 14

  O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place,
• Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice;
• For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

• 15

  Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards;
• For our vineyards are in blossom.

• 16

  My beloved is mine, and I am his:
• He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

• 17

  15 Until the day 16 be cool, and the shadows flee away,
• Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a 12 roe or a young hart
• Upon the 17 mountains of 18 Bether.

3

• By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth:
• I sought him, but I found him not.

• 2

  I said, I will rise now, and go about the city,
• In the streets and in the broad ways,
• I will seek him whom my soul loveth:
• I sought him, but I found him not.

• 3

  The watchmen that go about the city found me:
• To whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

• 4

  It was but a little that I passed from them,
• When I found him whom my soul loveth:
• I held him, and would not let him go,
• Until I had brought him into my mother’s house,
• And into the chamber of her that conceived me.

• 5

  19 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
• By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
• That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
• Until it please.

• 6

  Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,
• Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
• With all powders of the merchant?

• 7

  Behold, it is the litter of Solomon;
• Threescore mighty men are about it,
• Of the mighty men of Israel.

• 8

  They all handle the sword, and are expert in war:
• Every man hath his sword upon his thigh,
• Because of fear in the night.

• 9

  King Solomon made himself a 1 palanquin
• Of the wood of Lebanon.

• 10

  He made the pillars thereof of silver,
• The bottom thereof of gold, the seat of it of purple,
• The midst thereof being 2 paved with love,
• From the daughters of Jerusalem.

• 11

  Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon,
• With the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him in the day of his espousals,
• And in the day of the gladness of his heart.

4

• Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;
• 3 Thine eyes are as doves behind thy 4 veil.
• Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
• That 5 lie along the side of mount Gilead.

• 2

  Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn,
• Which are come up from the washing;
• 6 Whereof every one hath twins,
• And none is bereaved among them.

• 3

  Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,
• And thy 7 mouth is comely:
• Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate
• Behind thy 4 veil.

• 4

  Thy neck is like the tower of David builded 8 for an armoury,
• Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers,
• All the shields of the mighty men.

• 5

  Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a 9 roe,
• Which feed among the lilies.

• 6

  10 Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,
• I will get me to the mountain of myrrh,
• And to the hill of frankincense.

• 7

  Thou art all fair, my love;
• And there is no spot in thee.

• 8

  Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
• With me from Lebanon:
• 11 Look from the top of Amana,
• From the top of Senir and Hermon,
• From the lions’ dens,
• From the mountains of the leopards.

• 9

  Thou hast 12 ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;
• Thou hast 12 ravished my heart with 13 one of thine eyes,
• With one chain of thy neck.

• 10

  How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride!
• How much better is thy love than wine!
• And the smell of thine ointments than all manner of spices!

• 11

  Thy lips, O my bride, 14 drop as the honeycomb:
• Honey and milk are under thy tongue;
• And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

• 12

  A garden 15 shut up is my sister, my bride;
• A 16 spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

• 13

  Thy shoots are 17 an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits;
• Henna with spikenard plants,

• 14

  Spikenard and saffron,
• Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;
• Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

• 15

  Thou art a fountain of gardens,
• A well of living waters,
• And flowing streams from Lebanon.

• 16

  Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south;
• Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.
• Let my beloved come into his garden,
• And eat his precious fruits.

5

• I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride:
• I have gathered my myrrh with my 1 spice;
• I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
• I have drunk my wine with my milk.
• Eat, O friends;
• Drink, yea, drink abundantly, 2 O beloved.

• 2

  3 I was asleep, but my heart waked:
• It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying,
• Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my 4 undefiled:
• For my head is filled with dew,
• My locks with the drops of the night.

• 3

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

• 4

  My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door,
• And my 5 heart was moved 6 for him.

• 5

  I rose up to open to my beloved;
• And my hands dropped with myrrh,
• And my fingers with liquid myrrh,
• Upon the handles of the bolt.

• 6

  I opened to my beloved;
• But my beloved had 7 withdrawn himself, and was gone.
• My soul 8 had failed me when he spake:
• I sought him, but I could not find him;
• I called him, but he gave me no answer.

• 7

  The watchmen that go about the city found me,
• They smote me, they wounded me;
• The keepers of the walls took away my 9 mantle from me.

• 8

  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved,
• 10 That ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

• 9

  What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
• O thou fairest among women?
• What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
• That thou dost so adjure us?

• 10

  My beloved is white and ruddy,
• 11 The chiefest among ten thousand.

• 11

  His head is as the most fine gold,
• His locks are 12 bushy, and black as a raven.

• 12

  His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks;
• Washed with milk, and13 fitly set.

• 13

  His cheeks are as a bed of 14 spices, as15 banks of sweet herbs:
• His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

• 14

  His hands are as16 rings of gold set with 17 beryl:
• His body is as18 ivory work 19 overlaid with sapphires.

• 15

  His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold:
• His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

• 16

  His 20 mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely.
• This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
• O daughters of Jerusalem.

6

• Whither is thy beloved gone,
• O thou fairest among women?
• Whither hath thy beloved turned him,
• That we may seek him with thee?

• 2

  My beloved is gone down to his garden, to the beds of 14 spices,
• To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

• 3

  21 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine:
• He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

• 4

  Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah,
• Comely as Jerusalem,
• Terrible as 1 an army with banners.

• 5

  Turn away thine eyes from me,
• For they 2 have overcome me.
• 3 Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
• That he along the side of Gilead.

• 6

  4 Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes,
• Which are come up from the washing;
• Whereof every one hath twins,
• And none is bereaved among them.

• 7

  5 Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate
• Behind thy veil.

• 8

  There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,
• And 6 virgins without number.

• 9

  My dove, my 7 undefiled, is but one;
• She is the only one of her mother;
• She is the 8 choice one of her that bare her.
• The daughters saw her, and called her blessed;
• Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

• 10

  Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,
• Fair as the moon,
• 9 Clear as the sun,
• 10 Terrible as an army with banners?

• 11

  I went down into the garden of nuts,
• To see the green plants of the valley,
• To see whether the vine budded,
• And the pomegranates were in flower.

• 12

  Or ever I was aware, my 11 soul 12 set me
• Among the chariots of my 13 princely people.

• 13

  Return, return, O Shulammite;
• Return, return, that we may look upon thee.

• Why will ye look upon the Shulammite,
• As upon the dance 14 of Mahanaim?

7

• How beautiful are thy 15 feet in sandals, O prince’s daughter!
• 16 The joints of thy thighs are like jewels,
• The work of the hands of a cunning workman.

• 2

  Thy navel is like a round goblet,
• Wherein no mingled wine is wanting:
• Thy belly is like an heap of wheat
• Set about with lilies.

• 3

  17 Thy two breasts are like two fawns
• That are twins of a roe.

• 4

  Thy neck is like the tower of ivory;
• Thine eyes as the pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim;
• Thy nose is like the tower of Lebanon
• Which looketh toward Damascus.

• 5

  Thine head upon thee is like Carmel,
• And the hair of thine head 18 like purple;
• The king is held captive in the tresses thereof.

• 6

  How fair and how pleasant art thou,
• O love, for delights!

• 7

  This thy stature is like to a palm tree,
• And thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

• 8

  I said, I will climb up into the palm tree,
• I will take hold of the branches thereof:
• Let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine,
• And the smell of thy 19 breath like apples;

• 9

  And thy 20 mouth like the best wine,
• That goeth down 21 smoothly for my beloved,
• 22 Gliding through the lips of those that are asleep.

• 10

  I am my beloved’s,
• And his desire is toward me.

• 11

  Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;
• Let us lodge in the villages.

• 12

  Let us get up early to the vineyards;
• Let us see whether the vine hath budded, and23 its blossom be open,
• And the pomegranates be in flower:
• There will I give thee my love.

• 13

  The 1 mandrakes give forth fragrance,
• And 2 at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old,
• Which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

8

• • 1

    Oh that thou wert as my brother,
  • That sucked the breasts of my mother!
  • When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;
  • Yea, and none would despise me.

  • 2

    I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house,
  • 3 Who would instruct me;
  • I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine,
  • Of the 4 juice of my pomegranate.

  • 3

    5 His left hand should be under my head,
  • And his right hand should embrace me.

• • 4

    I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
  • 6 That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
  • Until it please.

• • 5

    Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
  • Leaning upon her beloved?
• • Under the apple tree I awakened thee:
  • There thy mother was in travail with thee,
  • There was she in travail 7 that brought thee forth.

• • 6

    Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm:
  • For love is strong as death;
  • Jealousy is 8 cruel as 9 the grave:
  • The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
  • 10 A very flame of 11 the Lord.

  • 7

    Many waters cannot quench love,
  • Neither can the floods drown it:
  • If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
  • 12 He would utterly be contemned.

• • 8

    We have a little sister,
  • And she hath no breasts:
  • What shall we do for our sister
  • In the day when she shall be spoken for?

  • 9

    If she be a wall,
  • We will build upon her 13 a turret of silver:
  • And if she be a door,
  • We will inclose her with boards of cedar.

• • 10

    I 14 am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof:
  • Then was I in his eyes as one that found peace.

  • 11

    Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
  • He let out the vineyard unto keepers;
  • Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

  • 12

    My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:
  • Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,
  • And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

• • 13

    Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
  • The companions hearken 15 for thy voice:
  • Cause me to hear it.

• • 14

    16 Make haste, my beloved,
  • And be thou like to a 17 roe or to a young hart
  • Upon the mountains of spices.

[1 ]Or, maidens

[2 ]Or, In uprightness

[3 ]Or, looked upon

[4 ]Most ancient versions have, wandereth.

[5 ]Or, my friend (and so throughout)

[6 ]Or, To the steeds Or, To my steed

[7 ]Or, bag

[8 ]Heb. copher.

[1 ]Or, Thou hast doves’ eyes

[2 ]Or, houses

[3 ]Or, of cedar . . . of fir

[4 ]Or, cypresses

[5 ]Heb. habazzeleth, the autumn crocus.

[6 ]Or, the plain

[7 ]Heb. I delighted and sat down &c.

[8 ]Heb. house of wine.

[9 ]Heb. cakes of raisins.

[10 ]Or, Let his left hand be &c.

[11 ]Or, gazelles

[12 ]Or, gazelle

[13 ]Or, glanceth through

[14 ]Or, pruning of vines

[15 ]Or, When the day is cool

[16 ]Or, break Heb. breathe.

[17 ]Or, mountains of separation

[18 ]Perhaps, the spice malobathron.

[19 ]See ch. ii. 7.

[1 ]Or, car of state

[2 ]Or, inlaid

[3 ]Or, Thou hast doves’ eyes

[4 ]Or, locks

[5 ]Or, appear on mount Gilead

[6 ]Or, Which are all of them in pairs

[7 ]Or, speech

[8 ]Or, with turrets

[9 ]Or, gazelle

[10 ]See ch. ii. 17.

[11 ]Or, Go

[12 ]Or, given me courage

[13 ]Or, one look from thine eyes

[14 ]Or, drop honey

[15 ]Heb barred.

[16 ]Or, according to many ancient authorities, garden

[17 ]Or, a paradise

[1 ]Or, balsam

[2 ]Or, of love

[3 ]Or, I sleep, but my heart waketh

[4 ]Heb. perfect.

[5 ]Heb. bowels.

[6 ]According to many MSS, within me.

[7 ]Or, turned away

[8 ]Heb. went forth.

[9 ]Or, veil

[10 ]Heb. What will ye tell him? That &c.

[11 ]Heb. Marked out by a banner.

[12 ]Or, curling

[13 ]Or, sitting by full streams

[14 ]Or, balsam

[15 ]Or, towers of perfumes

[16 ]Or, cylinders

[17 ]Or, topaz

[18 ]Or, bright ivory

[19 ]Or, encrusted

[20 ]Or, speech Heb. palate.

[21 ]See ch. ii. 16.

[1 ]Heb. bannered hosts.

[2 ]Or, make me afraid

[3 ]See ch iv. 1.

[4 ]See ch. iv. 2.

[5 ]See ch. iv. 3.

[6 ]Or, maidens

[7 ]Heb perfect.

[8 ]Or, pure

[9 ]Or, Pure

[10 ]See ver. 4.

[11 ]Or, desire

[12 ]Or, made me like the chariots of Amminadib.

[13 ]Or, willing [Ch vii. 1 in Heb]

[14 ]Or, of two companies

[15 ]Or steps

[16 ]Or, Thy rounded thighs

[17 ]See ch. iv. 5.

[18 ]Some ancient versions have, like the purple of a king, bound &c.

[19 ]Heb. nose.

[20 ]Heb. palate.

[21 ]Heb. aright.

[22 ]Or, Causing the lips of those that are asleep to move or speak

[23 ]Or, the tender grape appear

[1 ]See Gen. xxx 14.

[2 ]Or, over

[3 ]Or, That thou mightest

[4 ]Or, sweet wine

[5 ]See ch ii. 6, 7.

[6 ]Heb. Why should ye stir up? or why &c.

[7 ]Or, and

[8 ]Heb. hard.

[9 ]Heb. Sheol.

[10 ]Or, A most vehement flame

[11 ]Heb. Jah.

[12 ]Or, It

[13 ]Or, battlements

[14 ]Or, was

[15 ]Or, to

[16 ]Heb. Flee.

[17 ]Or, gazelle