From: pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey)
Subject: Re: The Song of Solomon  (JPS version - 500 lines)
Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'.
Date: 7 Nov 1992 07:33:16 UTC

In article <1992Nov6.214414.6841@netcom.com> 
noring@netcom.com (Jon Noring) writes:
>I am posting the complete Biblical erotic poem, the Song of Solomon.
>I chose the New International Version (NIV) translation 

I'm adding the JPS translation where it substantially differs. There are
a lot of repeats, it is a song after all, so I only note the first one.
And, by the way, this is "The Song of Songs" by Solomon, get it? Song of
Songs, Dance of Dance, Ritual of Ritual ...

>Woman [1:2-4]   -  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth -
>                   for your love is more delightful than wine.
>                   Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
>                   your name is like perfume poured out.
Your name is like finest oil.
>                   No wonder the maidens love you!
>                   Take me away with you - let us hurry!
>                   The king has brought me into his chambers.
>Friends [1:4]   -  We rejoice and delight in you;  [1]
>                   we will praise your love more than wine.
Savoring it more than wine - 
>Woman [1:4-7]   -  How right they are to adore you!
Like new wine they love you!
>                   Dark am I, yet lovely,
>                   O daughters of Jerusalem,
>                   dark like the tents of Kedar,
>                   like the tent curtains of Solomon.  [2]
Like the pavilions of Solomon.
>                   Do not stare at me because I am dark,
>                   because I am darkened by the sun.
>                   My mother's sons were angry with me
>                   and made me take care of the vineyards;
>                   my own vineyard I have neglected.
>                   Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock
>                   and where you rest your sheep at midday.
>                   Why should I be like a veiled woman
Let me not be as one who strays.
>                   beside the flocks of your friends?
>Man [1:8-11]    -  If you do not know, most beautiful of women,
>                   follow the tracks of the sheep
>                   and graze your young goats
(As a pretex for coming)
>                   by the tents of the shepherds.
>                   I liken you, my darling, to a mare
>                   harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh.
>                   Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
                                                   plaited wreaths,
>                   your neck with strings of jewels.
>                   We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver.
We will add wreaths of gold to your spangles of silver.
>Woman [1:12-14] -  While the king was at his table,
                                       on his couch,
>                   my perfume spread its fragrance.
My nard gave forth its fragance.
>                   My lover is to me a sachet of myrrh
>                   resting between my breasts.
Lodged between my breast.
>                   My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
>                   from the vineyards of En Gedi.
>Man [1:15]      -  How beautiful you are, my darling!
>                   Oh, how beautiful!
>                   Your eyes are doves.
With your dove-like eyes!
>Woman [1:16]    -  How handsome you are, my lover!
>                   Oh, how charming!
>                   And our bed is verdant.
And our couch is in a bower;
>Man [1:17]      -  The beams of our house are cedars;
>                   our rafters are firs.
Cypresses
>Woman [2:1]     -  I am a rose of Sharon,  [3]
>                   a lily of the valleys.
>Man [2:2]       -  Like a lily among thorns
>                   is my darling among the maidens.
>Woman [2:3-13]  -  Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest
>                   is my lover among the young men.
>                   I delight to sit in his shade,
>                   and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
>                   He has taken me to the banquet hall,
                                                   room
>                   and his banner over me is love,
And his banner of love was over me (Meaning of Hebrew uncertain)
>                   Strengthen me with raisins,
>                   refresh me with apples,
>                   for I am faint with love.
>                   His left arm is under my head,
                             hand
>                   and his right arm embraces me.
His right hand caressed me.
>                   Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
>                   by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
                                               hinds
>                   Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
Do not wake or rouse: Love until it please!
>                   Listen!  My lover!
>                   Look!  Here he comes,
>                   leaping across the mountains,
>                   bounding over the hills.
>                   My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag.
>                   Look!  There he stands behind our wall,
>                   gazing through the windows,
>                   peering through the lattice.
>                   My lover spoke and said to me,
>                   "Arise, my darling,
>                   my beautiful one, and come with me.
>                   See!  The winter is past;
>                   the rains are over and gone.
Note: Mediterranean climate, rains in winter
>                   Flowers appear on the earth;
>                   the season of singing has come,
the time of pruning has come;
>                   the cooing of doves
>                   is heard in our land.
>                   The fig tree forms its early fruit;
>                   the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
>                   Arise, come, my darling;
>                   my beautiful one, come with me."
>Man [2:14-15]   -  My dove in the clefts of the rock,
>                   in the hiding places on the mountainside,
>                   show me your face,
>                   let me hear your voice;
>                   for your voice is sweet,
>                   and your face is lovely.
>                   Catch for us the foxes,
>                   the little foxes
>                   that ruin the vineyards,
>                   our vineyards that are in bloom.
>Woman [2:16-17,
>       3:1-11]  -  My lover is mine and I am his;
>                   he browses among the lilies.
>                   Until the day breaks
When the day blows gently
>                   and the shadows flee,
>                   turn, my lover,
>                   and be like a gazelle
>                   or like a young stag
>                   on the rugged hills.  [4]
For the hills of spices!
>                   All night long on my bed
>                   I looked for the one my heart loves;
>                   I looked for him but did not find him.
>                   I will get up now and go about the city,
>                   through its streets and squares;
>                   I will search for the one my heart loves.
>                   So I looked for him but did not find him.
>                   The watchmen found me
>                   as they made their rounds in the city.
>                   "Have you seen the one my heart loves?"
>                   Scarcely had I passed them
>                   when I found the one my heart loves.
>                   I held him and would not let him go
>                   till I had brought him to my mother's house,
>                   to the room of the one who conceived me.
>                   Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
>                   by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
>                   Do not arouse or awaken love
>                   until it so desires.
Love until it please!
>                   Who is this coming up from the desert
>                   like a column of smoke,
>                   perfumed with myrrh and incense
>                   made from all the spices of the merchant?
>                   Look!  It is Solomon's carriage,
                                           couch
>                   escorted by sixty warriors,
>                   the noblest of Israel,
>                   all of them wearing the sword,
>                   all experienced in battle,
>                   each with his sword at his side,
>                   prepared for the terrors of the night.
>                   King Solomon made for himself the carriage;
                                                  a palanquin
>                   he made it of wood from Lebanon.
>                   Its posts he made of silver,
>                   its base of gold.
>                   Its seat was upholstered with purple,
>                   its interior lovingly inlaid
Within, it was decked with love
>                   by the daughters of Jerusalem.  [5]
>                   Come out, you daughters of Zion,
>                   and look at King Solomon wearing the crown,
>                   the crown with which his mother crowned him
>                   on the day of his wedding,
>                   the day his heart rejoiced.
>Man [4:1-15]    -  How beautiful you are, my darling!
>                   Oh, how beautiful!
>                   Your eyes behind your veil are doves.
>                   Your hair is like a flock of goats
>                   descending from Mount Gilead.
>                   Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
                                                   ewes
>                   coming up from the washing.
                                                pool;
>                   Each has its twin;
All of them bear twins,
>                   not one of them is alone.
And not one loses her young.
>                   Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
>                   your mouth is lovely.
>                   Your temples behind your veil
>                   are like the halves of a pomegranate.
>                   Your neck is like the tower of David,
>                   built with elegance;  [6]
>                   on it hang a thousand shields,
>                   all of them shields of warriors.
>                   Your two breasts are like two fawns,
>                   like twin fawns of a gazelle
>                   that browse among the lilies.
>                   Until the day breaks
>                   and the shadows flee,
>                   I will go to the mountain of myrrh
>                   and to the hill of incense.
>                   All beautiful you are, my darling;
>                   there is no flaw in you.
>                   Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
>                   come with me from Lebanon.
>                   Descend from the crest of Amana,
>                   from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon,
>                   from the lions' dens
>                   and the mountain haunts of the leopards.
>                   You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
                             captured         my own, my bride,
>                   you have stolen my heart
>                   with one glance of your eyes,
>                   with one jewel of your necklace.
With one coil of your necklace.
>                   How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
>                   How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
>                   and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!
>                   Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
>                   milk and honey are under your tongue.
>                   The fragrance of your garments is like that of Lebanon.
>                   You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride;
>                   you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.
>                   Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
                         limbs
>                   with choice fruits,
>                   with henna and nard,
>                   nard and saffron,
>                   calamus and cinnamon,
>                   with every kind of incense tree,
>                   with myrrh and aloes
>                   and all the finest spices.
>                   You are a garden fountain,  [7]
>                   a well of flowing water
>                   streaming down from Lebanon.
>Woman [4:16]    -  Awake, north wind,
>                   and come, south wind!
>                   Blow on my garden,
>                   that its fragrance may spread abroad.
>                   Let my lover come into his garden
>                   and taste its choice fruits.
>Man [5:1]       -  I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;
>                   I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
>                   I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
>                   I have drunk my wine and my milk.
>Friends [5:1]   -  Eat, O friends, and drink;
                         lovers
>                   drink your fill, O lovers.
Drink deep of love!
>Woman [5:2-8]   -  I slept but my heart was awake.
>                   Listen!  My lover is knocking:
>                   "Open to me, my sister, my darling,
>                   my dove, my flawless one.
>                   My head is drenched with dew,
>                   my hair with the dampness of the night."
>                   I have taken off my robe -
>                   must I put it on again?
>                   I have washed my feet -
>                   must I soil them again?
>                   My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
My beloved took his hand off the latch, (Meaning of Hebrew uncertain)
>                   my heart began to pound for him.
>                   I arose to open for my lover,
>                   and my hands dripped with myrrh,
>                   on the handles of the lock.
>                   I opened for my lover,
>                   but my lover had left;  he was gone.
>                   My heart had gone out to him when he spoke.
>                   I looked for him but did not find him.
>                   I called him but he did not answer.
>                   The watchmen found me
>                   as they made their rounds in the city.
>                   They beat me, they bruised me;
>                   they took away my cloak,
Stripped me of my mantle.
>                   those watchmen of the walls!
>                   O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you -
>                   if you find my lover,
>                   what will you tell him?
>                   Tell him I am faint with love.
>Friends [5:9]   -  How is your beloved better than others,
>                   most beautiful of women?
>                   How is your beloved better than others,
>                   that you charge us so?
>Woman [5:10-16] -  My lover is radiant and ruddy,
>                   outstanding among ten thousand.
>                   His head is purest gold;
>                   his hair is wavy
>                   and black as a raven.
>                   His eyes are like doves
>                   by the water streams,
>                   washed in milk,
>                   mounted like jewels.
>                   His cheeks are like beds of spice
>                   yielding perfume.
>                   His lips are like lilies
>                   dripping with myrrh.
>                   His arms are rods of gold
>                   set with chrysolite.
>                   His body is like polished ivory
>                   decorated with sapphires.  [8]
>                   His legs are pillars of marble
>                   set on bases of pure gold.
>                   His appearance is like Lebanon,
>                   choice as its cedars.
>                   His mouth is sweetness itself;
>                   he is altogether lovely.
>                   This is my lover, this my friend,
>                   O daughters of Jerusalem.
>Friends [6:1]   -  Where has your lover gone,
>                   most beautiful of women?
>                   Which way did your lover turn,
>                   that we may look for him with you?
>Woman [6:2-3]   -  My lover has gone down to his garden,
>                   to the beds of spices,
>                   to browse in the gardens
>                   and to gather lilies.
>                   I am my lover's and my lover is mine;
>                   he browses among the lilies.
>Man [6:4-12]    -  You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,
>                   lovely as Jerusalem,
>                   majestic as troops with banners.
Awesome as bannered hosts.
>                   Turn your eyes from me;
>                   they overwhelm me.
>                   Your hair is like a flock of goats
>                   descending from Gilead.
>                   Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
>                   coming up from the washing.
>                   Each has its twin,
>                   not one of them is alone.
>                   Your temples behind your veil
>                   are like the halves of a pomegranate.
>                   Sixty queens there may be,
>                   and eighty concubines,
>                   and virgins beyond number;
And damsels without number.
>                   but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
>                   the only daughter of her mother,
>                   the favorite of the one who bore her.
>                   The maidens saw her and called her blessed;
>                   the queens and concubines praised her.
>                   Who is this that appears like the dawn,
>                   fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
>                   majestic as the stars in procession?
>                   I went down to the grove of nut trees
>                   to look at the new growth in the valley,
>                   to see if the vines had budded
>                   or the pomegranates were in bloom.
>                   Before I realized it,
>                   my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people. [9]
Mid the chariots of Ammi-nadib.
>Friends [6:13]  -  Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
maid of Shulem!
>                   come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!
>Man [6:13-7:9]  -  Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
>                   as on the dance of Mahanaim?
>                   How beautiful your sandaled feet,
>                   O prince's daughter!
>                   Your graceful legs are like jewels,
>                   the work of a craftsman's hands.
>                   Your navel is a rounded goblet
>                   that never lacks blended wine.
>                   Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies.
>                   Your breasts are like two fawns,
>                   twins of a gazelle.
>                   Your neck is like an ivory tower.
>                   Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon
>                   by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
>                   Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
>                   looking toward Damascus.
>                   Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.
>                   Your hair is like royal tapestry;
>                   the king is held captive by its tresses.
>                   How beautiful you are and how pleasing,
>                   O love, with your delights!
>                   Your stature is like that of the palm,
>                   and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
>                   I said, "I will climb the palm tree;
>                   I will take hold of its fruit."
>                   May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine,
>                   the fragrance of your breath like apples,
>                   and your mouth like the best wine.
>Woman [7:9-8:4] -  May the wine go straight to my lover,
>                   flowing gently over lips and teeth.  [10]
Gliding over the lips of sleepers. (Meaning of Hebrew uncertain)
>                   I belong to my lover,
>                   and his desire is for me.
>                   Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside,
>                   let us spend the night in the villages.  [11]
Let us lodge among the henna shrubs.
>                   Let us go early to the vineyards
>                   to see if the vines have budded,
>                   if their blossoms have opened,
>                   and if the pomegranates are in bloom -
>                   there I will give you my love.
>                   The mandrakes send out their fragrance,
>                   and at our door is every delicacy,
>                   both new and old,
>                   that I have stored up for you, my lover.
>                   If only you were to me like a brother,
>                   who was nursed at my mother's breasts!
>                   Then, if I found you outside,
>                   I would kiss you,
>                   and no one would despise me.
>                   I would lead you
>                   and bring you to my mother's house -
>                   she who has taught me.
>                   I would give you spiced wine to drink,
>                   the nectar of my pomegranates.
>                   His left arm is under my head
>                   and his right arm embraces me.
>                   Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:
>                   Do not arouse or awaken love
>                   until it so desires.
>Friends [8:5]   -  Who is this coming up from the desert
>                   leaning on her lover?
>Woman [8:5-7]   -  Under the apple tree I roused you;
>                   there your mother conceived you,
>                   there she who was in labor gave you birth.
>                   Place me like a seal over your heart,
>                   like a seal over your arm;
                         the seal upon your hand.
>                   for love is as strong as death,
>                   its jealousy unyielding as the grave.  [12,13]
Passion is mighty as Sheol;
>                   It burns like blazing fire,
>                   like a mighty flame.  [14]
>                   Many waters cannot quench love;
>                   rivers cannot wash it away.
>                   If one were to give
>                   all the wealth of his house for love,
>                   it would be utterly scorned.  [15]
>Friends [8:8-9] -  We have a young sister,
>                   and her breasts are not yet grown,
>                   What shall we do for our sister
>                   for the day she is spoken for?
>                   If she is a wall,
>                   we will build towers of silver on her.
We will build upon it a silver battlement;
>                   If she is a door,
>                   we will enclose her with panels of cedar.  [16]
We will panel it in cedar.
>Woman [8:10-12] -  I am a wall,
>                   and my breasts are like towers.
>                   Thus I have become in his eyes
>                   like one bringing contentment.
As one who finds favor.
>                   Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon;
>                   he let out his vineyard to tenants.
>                   Each was to bring for its fruit
>                   a thousand shekels of silver.
>                   But my own vineyard is mine to give;
>                   the thousand shekels are for you,  [17]
>                   O Solomon,
>                   and two hundred are for those  [18]
>                   who tend its fruit.
>Man [8:13]      -  You who dwell in the gardens
>                   with friends in attendance,
>                   let me hear your voice!
>Woman [8:14]    -  Come away, my lover,
>                   and be like a gazelle
>                   or like a young stag
>                   on the spice-laden mountains.