Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs)

Category: Judaism

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The Jewish Publication Society of America Version (JPS) of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) was the first Bible translation published by the Jewish Publication Society of America and the first translation of the Tanakh into English by a committee of Jews. The full publication title is The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text: A New Translation with the Aid of Previous Versions and with Constant Consultation of Jewish Authorities.

Shir HaShirim
(Song of Songs)

שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים‎

Ketuvim - כְּתוּבִים

Shir HaShirim - Chapter 1

The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth — for thy love is better than wine.

Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; thy name is as ointment poured forth; therefore do the maidens love thee.

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 find thy love more fragrant than wine! sincerely do they love thee. {P}

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

Look not upon me, that I am swarthy, that the sun hath tanned me; my mother’s sons were incensed against me, they made me keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.’

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon; for why should I be as one that veileth herself beside the flocks of thy companions?

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. {P}

I have compared thee, O my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.

Thy cheeks are comely with circlets, thy neck with beads.

We will make thee circlets of gold with studs of silver.

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

My beloved is unto me as a bag of myrrh, that lieth betwixt my breasts.

My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna in the vineyards of En-gedi. {S}

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves.

Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant; also our couch is leafy.

The beams of our houses are cedars, and our panels are cypresses.

Shir HaShirim - Chapter 2

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

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

As an apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. Under its shadow I delighted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my taste.

He hath brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me is love.

‘Stay ye me with dainties, refresh me with apples; for I am love-sick.’

Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me.

‘I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.’ {S}

Hark! my beloved! behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh in through the windows, he peereth through the lattice.

My beloved spoke, and said unto me: ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. {S}

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.’ {S}

‘Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom.’

My beloved is mine, and I am his, that feedeth among the lilies.

Until the day breathe, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices. {S}

Shir HaShirim - Chapter 3

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

‘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.

The watchmen that go about the city found me: ‘Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?’

Scarce had 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.

‘I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.’ {S}

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?

Behold, it is the litter of Solomon; threescore mighty men are about it, of the mighty men of Israel.

They all handle the sword, and are expert in war; every man hath his sword upon his thigh, because of dread in the night. {S}

King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon.

He made the pillars thereof of silver, the top thereof of gold, the seat of it of purple, the inside thereof being inlaid with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.

Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and gaze upon king Solomon, even upon the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart. {S}

Shir HaShirim - Chapter 4

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil; thy hair is as a flock of goats, that trail down from mount Gilead.

Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes all shaped alike, which are come up from the washing; whereof all are paired, and none faileth among them.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy mouth is comely; thy temples are like a pomegranate split open behind thy veil.

Thy neck is like the tower of David builded with turrets, whereon there hang a thousand shields, all the armour of the mighty men.

Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies.

Shir HaShirim(Song of Songs)