Remember Your Creator in Your Youth
12 Remember also your Creator in vthe days of your youth, before wthe evil days come and the years draw near of which xyou will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before ythe sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and zthose who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and athe doors on the street are shut—when bthe sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all cthe daughters of song are brought low— 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and dterrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,1 and desire fails, because man is going to his eeternal fhome, and the gmourners go about the streets— 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or hthe golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is ishattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and jthe dust returns to the earth as it was, and kthe spirit returns to God lwho gave it. 8 mVanity2 of vanities, says nthe Preacher; all is vanity.
Fear God and Keep His Commandments
9 Besides being wise, nthe Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging omany proverbs with great care. 10 nThe Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
11 pThe words of the wise are like goads, and like qnails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are rgiven by sone Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making umany books there is no end, and vmuch study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. wFear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.3 14 For xGod will bring every deed into judgment, with4 every secret thing, whether good or evil.
The Song of Solomon
1 The Song of aSongs, which is Solomon’s.
The Bride Confesses Her Love
She1
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your blove is better than wine;
3 your canointing oils are fragrant;
your dname is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
4 eDraw me after you; flet us run.
gThe king has brought me into his chambers.
Others
We will hexult and rejoice in you;
we will extol byour love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.
She
5 I am very dark, but ilovely,
O jdaughters of Jerusalem,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mmother’s sons were angry with me;
they made me nkeeper of othe vineyards,
but pmy own vineyard I have not kept!
7 Tell me, you qwhom my soul loves,
where you rpasture your flock,
where you make it slie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils herself
beside the flocks of your tcompanions?
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
8 If you do not know,
O umost beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your young goats
beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 I compare you, vmy love,
to wa mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 xYour cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
Others
11 We will make for you2 ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
She
12 While ythe king was on his couch,
my znard gave forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of amyrrh
that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of bhenna blossoms
in the vineyards of cEngedi.
He
15 dBehold, eyou are beautiful, fmy love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your geyes are doves.
She
16 Behold, you are beautiful, hmy beloved, truly idelightful.
Our couch is green;
17 the beams of our house are jcedar;
our rafters are jpine.
2 I am a rose1 of Sharon,
ka lily of the valleys.
He
2 As a lily among brambles,
so is lmy love among the young women.
She
3 As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my mbeloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat nin his shadow,
and his ofruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He pbrought me to the banqueting house,2
and his qbanner over me was love.
5 Sustain me with rraisins;
refresh me with apples,
sfor I am sick with love.
6 His tleft hand is under my head,
and his right hand uembraces me!
7 I vadjure you,3 O wdaughters of Jerusalem,
by xthe gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
The Bride Adores Her Beloved
8 The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping yover the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like za gazelle
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks and says to me:
a“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
11 for behold, the winter is past;
bthe rain is over and gone.
12 cThe flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing4 has come,
and the voice of dthe turtledove
is heard in our land.
13 eThe fig tree ripens its figs,
and fthe vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
gArise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
14 O my hdove, in the iclefts of the rock,
in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me jhear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is klovely.
the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
ffor our vineyards are in blossom.”
16 mMy beloved is mine, and I am his;
17 Until othe day breathes
and pthe shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like qa gazelle
or a young stag on cleft mountains.7
The Bride’s Dream
3 On my bed rby night
I sought shim whom my soul loves;
tI sought him, but found him not.
2 I will rise now and go about the city,
in uthe streets and in the squares;
I will seek shim whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but found him not.
3 vThe watchmen found me
as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them
when I found shim whom my soul loves.
I wheld him, and would not let him go
until I had xbrought him into my mother’s house,
and into the chamber of yher who conceived me.
5 zI adjure you, aO daughters of Jerusalem,
bby the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
Solomon Arrives for the Wedding
6 cWhat is that coming up from the wilderness
like dcolumns of smoke,
perfumed with emyrrh and frankincense,
with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
7 Behold, it is the litter1 of Solomon!
Around it are fsixty gmighty men,
some of the mighty men of Israel,
8 all of them wearing swords
and expert in war,
each with his hsword at his thigh,
against iterror by night.
9 King Solomon made himself a carriage2
from the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver,
its back of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love
by jthe daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, O kdaughters of Zion,
and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
on lthe day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.
Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty
He
4 Behold, myou are beautiful, my love,
behold, you are beautiful!
nYour eyes are doves
obehind your veil.
pYour hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down qthe slopes of Gilead.
2 Your rteeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
that have come up from the washing,
all of which bear twins,
and not one among them has lost its young.
3 Your lips are like sa scarlet thread,
and your mouth is tlovely.
Your ucheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
obehind your veil.
4 Your vneck is like the tower of David,
on it xhang a thousand shields,
all of ythem shields of warriors.
5 Your ztwo breasts are like two afawns,
twins of a gazelle,
that bgraze among the lilies.
6 cUntil the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
I will go away to the mountain of dmyrrh
and the hill of dfrankincense.
7 eYou are altogether beautiful, my love;
there is no fflaw in you.
8 gCome with me from hLebanon, my ibride;
come with me from hLebanon.
Depart2 from the peak of Amana,
from the peak of jSenir and kHermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountains of leopards.
9 You have captivated my heart, my lsister, my bride;
you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one mjewel of your necklace.
10 How beautiful is your love, my lsister, my bride!
How much nbetter is your love than wine,
and othe fragrance of your oils than any spice!
11 Your plips drip nectar, my bride;
qhoney and milk are under your tongue;
the fragrance of your garments is rlike the fragrance of hLebanon.
12 A garden locked is my lsister, my bride,
a spring locked, sa fountain tsealed.
13 Your shoots are uan orchard of pomegranates
with all vchoicest fruits,
14 nard and saffron, ycalamus and ycinnamon,
with all trees of zfrankincense,
with all ychoice spices—
15 a garden fountain, a well of cliving water,
and flowing streams from hLebanon.
16 Awake, O north wind,
and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my dgarden,
let its spices flow.
Together in the Garden of Love
She
eLet my beloved come to his fgarden,
and eat its vchoicest fruits.