1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O tnoble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like ujewels,
the work of va master hand.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with wlilies.
3 xYour two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your yneck is like an ivory tower.
Your zeyes are pools in aHeshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of bLebanon,
which looks toward cDamascus.
5 Your head crowns you like eCarmel,
and your fflowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.
6 gHow beautiful and hpleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!1
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like iclusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
She
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.3
10 kI am my beloved’s,
land his desire is for me.
The Bride Gives Her Love
11 mCome, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;4
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
nand see whether the vines have budded,
whether othe grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 pThe mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
qnew as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
Longing for Her Beloved
1 Oh that you were like a brother to me
who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and none would despise me.
2 I would lead you and rbring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you sspiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate.
3 tHis left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
4 I uadjure you, O vdaughters of Jerusalem,
wthat you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
5 xWho is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as ya seal upon your arm,
for zlove is strong as death,
ajealousy5 is fierce as the grave.6
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very bflame of the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his chouse,
he7 would be utterly despised.
Final Advice
Others
8 We have a little sister,
and she dhas no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with eboards of cedar.
She
10 fI was a wall,
and my gbreasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds8 peace.
11 Solomon had ha vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he ilet out the vineyard to jkeepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit ka thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and lthe keepers of the fruit two hundred.
He
13 mO you who dwell in the gardens,
with ncompanions listening for your voice;
olet me hear it.
She
14 pMake haste, my beloved,
and be qlike a gazelle
or a young stag
on rthe mountains of spices.
Give the King Your Justice
Of qSolomon.
1 Give the king your rjustice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he sjudge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
3 Let the mountains bear tprosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
5 May they fear you1 while uthe sun endures,
and as long as the moon, vthroughout all generations!
6 May he be like wrain that falls on xthe mown grass,
like yshowers that water the earth!
7 In his days may zthe righteous flourish,
and apeace abound, till the moon be no more!
8 May he have dominion from bsea to sea,
and from bthe River2 to the cends of the earth!
9 May desert tribes dbow down before him,
and his enemies elick the dust!
10 May the kings of fTarshish and of gthe coastlands
render him htribute;
may the kings of iSheba and jSeba
bring gifts!
11 May all kings kfall down before him,
all nations serve him!
12 For he delivers lthe needy when he calls,
the poor and him who has no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and mprecious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live;
may ngold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made ofor him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all the day!
16 May there be abundance of grain in the land;
on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people pblossom in the cities
like the qgrass of the field!
17 rMay his name endure forever,
his fame continue as long as the sun!
sMay people be blessed in him,
tall nations call him blessed!
18 uBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does vwondrous things.
19 Blessed be his wglorious name forever;
may xthe whole earth be filled with his glory!
yAmen and Amen!
Unless the Lord Builds the House
A Song of mAscents. Of Solomon.
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord xwatches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious ytoil;
3 Behold, bchildren are a heritage from the Lord,
cthe fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of da warrior
are the children1 of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
