Through My Bible Yr 02 – November 26

Through My Bible – November 26

Song of Songs 6:4 – 8:4 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

⁴ You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, ^[1]
lovely as Jerusalem,
majestic as troops with banners.

⁵ Turn your eyes away from me,
because they arouse me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
flowing down from Gilead.
⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin. Not one of them is alone.
⁷ Your cheeks behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
⁸ There may be sixty queens,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number,
⁹ but my dove, my perfect one, is one of a kind.
She is the only daughter of her mother,
pure to the one who bore her.
The girls saw her and called her blessed.
The queens and concubines also praised her.

¹⁰ Who is this woman that appears like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun,
majestic as the stars in procession?

¹¹ I went down to the grove of nut trees,
to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
    whether the pomegranates had blossomed.

¹² Before I realized it, my desire set me
among the chariots of my willing people. ^[3]

¹³ Turn back, turn back, O Shulammite.
Turn back, turn back, so that we may look at you! ^[4]

Song of Songs 7

¹ Why would you look at the Shulammite.
    as at the dance of Mahanaim? ^[6]

² How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
    O prince’s daughter!
Your hips are curved like a necklace,
the work of the hands of a craftsman.
³ Your navel is a round mixing bowl.
It never lacks blended wine.
Your belly is a mound of wheat, encircled by lilies.
⁴ Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle.
⁵ Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are the pools in Heshbon,
    by the gate of Bat Rabbim. ^[7]
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,
    overlooking Damascus.
⁶ Your head rises above you like Mount Carmel.
The flowing hair of your head is like purple.
The king is captivated by its curls.

⁷ How beautiful you are and how pleasing,
O loved one, daughter of delights! ^[8]
8 Your height is like that of the date palm,
and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
⁹ I said, “I will climb the date palm.
I will take hold of its bunches of fruit.”
May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apples,
^10a and your mouth like the best wine—

^10b —flowing to my lover,
gliding smoothly over lips and teeth. ^[9]
11 I belong to my lover,
and his desire is for me.

¹² Come, my lover,
let us go to the fields.
Let us spend the night in the villages.
¹³ Let us go early to the vineyards.
We will see if the vines have budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
if the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give my love to you.
The mandrakes send out their fragrance.
At our door is every delicacy,
new as well as old,
that I have stored up for you, my lover.

Song of Songs 8

¹ I wish that you were like a brother to me,
who was nursed at my mother’s breasts.
Then if I would meet you in public,
I could kiss you,
and no one would despise me.
² I would lead you.
I would bring you to my mother’s house
    where she used to teach me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranates.

³ His left arm is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.

⁴ Daughters of Jerusalem, you must swear
that you will not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.

Footnotes

1. Song of Songs 6:4 Tirzah is a city in Israel. Its name means delightful.
2. Song of Songs 6:11 The identity of the speaker of these verses is uncertain.
3. Song of Songs 6:12 This is a difficult verse of uncertain meaning.
4. Song of Songs 6:13 English verse 6:13 is 7:1 in Hebrew. In the rest of chapter 7, the English verse numbers are one lower than the Hebrew verse numbers.
5. Song of Songs 7:1 The identity of the speaker of this verse is uncertain.
6. Song of Songs 7:1 Mahanaim is the name of a city. It means two camps. Here the term may refer to two lines of dancers.
7. Song of Songs 7:5 Bat Rabbim means Daughter of Nobles.
8. Song of Songs 7:7 The translation follows a textual variant supported by the ancient versions. The Hebrew text reads O love, with delights.
9. Song of Songs 7:10 The reading lips and teeth is well attested by the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads lips of sleepers.