Solomon’s Praise of His Dancing Maiden

¹ How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O royal princess!¹ The curves of your ⌞thighs⌟² are like ⌞jewels⌟,³ the work of the hands of a craftsman.

1. Or “O daughter of leader”
2. Literally “thigh”
3. Literally “ornaments”

² Your navel is ⌞a round wine-mixing bowl⌟¹ that does not lack mixed² wine! Your belly is a heap of wheat encircled with lilies.

1. Literally “a bowl of the roundness”
2. Or “blended”

³ Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

⁴ Your neck is like a tower of ivory; your eyes are pools in Heshbon at the gate of Beth Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon ⌞looking out over Damascus⌟.¹

1. Literally “looking out over the face of Damascus”

⁵ ⌞Your head crowns you like Carmel⌟;¹² the flowing locks of your head are like ⌞purple tapestry⌟;³ a king is held captive in the tresses!

1. Literally “Your head is on you like the Carmel”
2. Because of its height and fertility, Mount Carmel is often associated with royalty
3. Literally “the purple”

⁶ How beautiful you are and how pleasant, O loved one in the delights!

⁷ ⌞Your stature⌟¹ is like the palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters.

1. Literally “this your height”

⁸ I say, “I will climb up the palm tree; I will lay hold of its fruit clusters.” Let your breasts be pleasing like clusters of the vine and the scent of your breath like the apples.

Mutual Possession Refrain

⁹ Your palate is like the best wine that goes down for my beloved, smoothly gliding over my lips and teeth.¹

1. Or “over lips of sleepers.” One Hebrew textual tradition preserves the reading “lips of those who sleep” (MT). Another Hebrew tradition reads “my lips and my teeth,” as reflected by the ancient versions (LXX, Latin Vulgate, Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta). The latter is adopted here since it makes the most sense poetically

Rendezvous in the Countryside

¹⁰ ⌞I belong to my beloved⌟,¹ ⌞and he desires me⌟!²

1. Literally “I am for my beloved”
2. Literally “and his desire is for me.” Or “and his desire belongs to me”

¹¹ Come, my beloved, let us ⌞go out to the countryside⌟;¹ let us spend the night² in the villages.

1. Literally “go forth into the field”
2. Or “lodge”

¹² Let us rise early to go¹ to the vineyards; let us see whether the vine has budded,² whether the grape blossom has opened, and whether the pomegranates ⌞are in bloom⌟;³ there I will give my love to you.

1. Or “let us go”
2. Or “sprouted”
3. Literally “have bloomed”

¹³ The mandrakes give off their fragrance, and ⌞over our doorway is every kind of delicious fruit⌟;¹ both ⌞fresh and dried fruit I have stored up⌟² for you, O my beloved.

1. Or “over our doorways all choice things”
2. Literally “new also old I have laid up”