Song of Solomon
Name of Book and Location in Canon
The Song of Solomon (its Hebrew title is “Song of Songs”), also known as Canticles, appears in the Megillot, or “five scrolls” (Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther), in the third part of the Jewish canon, the Writings. In the Christian canon it is among the Poetical and Wisdom books.
Authorship, Date of Composition, Literary and Historical Context
The Song of Solomon, the Bible's only love poem, offers no clues about when, where, or under what circumstances it was composed. Its author is unknown. The traditional attribution of the book to Solomon probably derives from references to Solomon in the poem (1.5; 3.7,9,11; 8.11,12) and his reputation as the composer of songs (1 Kings 4.32) and owner of a large harem (1 Kings 11.3).
Speculation about the date of composition ranges from the time of Solomon (tenth century bce) to the Hellenistic period (fourth to second centuries bce). Some scholars see the Song as a collection, in which case the various love poems would come from different authors and different times.
Similarities to Mesopotamian (3000–1000 bce) and, in particular, Egyptian love poetry (thirteenth to eleventh centuries bce) indicate that the poet drew upon a rich cultural tradition of love poetry. Shared features include wishing, desiring, praising the beloved, metaphoric descriptions of the body, double entendre, nature imagery, and the appeal to the senses. Sometimes a dialogue format is used; frequently the lovers address each other as “sister” and “brother.” Many of the Mesopotamian love poems deal with the marriage of the goddess and her consort and were used in ritual contexts. In contrast, the Song, like the Egyptian love poems, is not about gods nor does it appear to have had anything to do with worship.
Structure and Contents
The Song is about how glorious it is to be in love. It looks at love from both a woman's and a man's point of view, and it consists entirely of dialogue, so that we learn about love through what lovers say about it. The dialogue format creates the impression that we are overhearing the lovers as they speak, and observing their love unfold. The poet seeks to immortalize a vision of love as “strong as death” (8.6) by portraying the lovers as forever seeking and finding gratification of their mutual desire. They delight in each other and in the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibility of the world around them, making the Song a feast for the senses.
A third speaking voice belongs to the women of Jerusalem, a kind of chorus functioning as an audience within the poem and whose presence, because the lovers are aware of and encourage it, facilitates the reader's entry into the lovers’ seemingly private world of erotic intimacy.
The poem begins and ends with short speeches in which the speakers change frequently, and the voices of the woman, the man, and, occasionally, the women of Jerusalem intermingle (1.2–2.7; 8.1–14). In between—although the structure is not rigid—are two cycles of long speeches, in which the woman speaks, then the man, with the woman interrupting his speeches at the end (2.8–3.11 and 4.1–5.1; 5.2–6.3 and 6.4–7.13).
Interpretation
Allegory was the dominant mode of interpretation from the early centuries of the Common Era until the rise of critical biblical scholarship in the nineteenth century. Jewish interpreters typically read the Song as an account of the relationship between God and Israel, while Christians saw it as about the love between Christ and the church, or Christ (or the divine logos) and the individual believer. Modern scholars recognize its subject as human love, though some have argued that it originated as a liturgical text whose speakers are a god and goddess. Whether the Song was included in the canon because it had been allegorized or was allegorized because it had been included in the canon has long been debated. Allegorization alone cannot have been the reason the Song was included, since the text must have already achieved a certain status—perhaps as part of the national religious literature—for anyone to have taken the trouble to develop an allegorical interpretation of it.
The Song is a lyric poem, not a record of events in the lives of two lovers. This means that unusual events or sudden transitions do not require explanation to make them seem more realistic or more intelligible. When we read lyric poetry, which is essentially a discontinuous form, we should not expect to find the kind of linear unfolding of events that produces a plot. The Song meanders, repeating themes, images, phrases, and sometimes whole sections. As we read the poem, we may feel that we get to know the lovers, for they each have their own distinctive way of talking about their love and its effect on them. She is lovesick (2.5; 5.8), and she tells stories in which he comes to court her and she searches for him (2.8–17; 3.1–5; 5.2–8). He is overwhelmed by her (4.9; 6.5), and praises her charms in detail (4.1–15; 6.4–10; 7.1–9). Yet even as we build a picture of them, we need to recognize that the woman and the man are personae created by the poet to represent all lovers. They appear in various guises—shepherds, vineyard keepers, royal figures—as well as appearing as themselves. Because they are not real lovers, their movements are not restricted. They effortlessly traverse the poetic landscape—vineyards, gardens, palaces, houses, rocky cliffs, the wilderness, Lebanon—finding pleasure wherever their fancy takes them.
Readers are meant to revel in the poem's sonorousness, rich vocabulary, and exotic images. Its dense metaphoric language and extravagant images are not reducible to simple prose paraphrase, and typically the metaphors the lovers use to describe each other's bodies hide as much as they reveal.
This is no private poem, intended for a lover's ears only. It invites its readers to participate in the wonder of love, along with the women of Jerusalem, whose presence serves as a reminder that what seems to be a closed dialogue between lovers is indeed addressed to the reader.
J. Cheryl Exum
1
The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.
2Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine,
3your anointing oils are fragrant,
your name is perfume poured out;
therefore the maidens love you.
4Draw me after you, let us make haste.
The king has brought me into his chambers.
We will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.
5I am black and beautiful,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has gazed on me.
My mother's sons were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard I have not kept!
7Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you pasture your flock,
where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who is veiled
beside the flocks of your companions?
8If you do not know,
O fairest among women,
follow the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your kids
beside the shepherds’ tents.
9I compare you, my love,
to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots.
10Your cheeks are comely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
11We will make you ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
2
I am a roseb of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
2As a lily among brambles,
so is my love among maidens.
3As an apple tree among the trees of the wood,
so is my beloved among young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4He brought me to the banqueting house,
and his intention toward me was love.
5Sustain me with raisins,
refresh me with apples;
for I am faint with love.
6O that his left hand were under my head,
and that his right hand embraced me!
7I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the wild does:
do not stir up or awaken love
until it is ready!
8The voice of my beloved!
Look, he comes,
leaping upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Look, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
looking through the lattice.
10My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
11for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
12The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
13The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away.
14O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the covert of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
15Catch us the foxes,
the little foxes,
that ruin the vineyards—
for our vineyards are in blossom.”
3
Upon my bed at night
I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not;
I called him, but he gave no answer. b
2“I will rise now and go about the city,
in the streets and in the squares;
I will seek him whom my soul loves.”
I sought him, but found him not.
3The sentinels found me,
as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4Scarcely had I passed them,
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go
until I brought him into my mother's house,
and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
5I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the wild does:
do not stir up or awaken love
until it is ready!
6What is that coming up from the wilderness,
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?
7Look, it is the litter of Solomon!
Around it are sixty mighty men
of the mighty men of Israel,
8all equipped with swords
and expert in war,
each with his sword at his thigh
because of alarms by night.
9King Solomon made himself a palanquin
from the wood of Lebanon.
10He made its posts of silver,
its back of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love.a
Daughters of Jerusalem,
11come out.
Look, O daughters of Zion,
at King Solomon,
at the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.
4
How beautiful you are, my love,
how very beautiful!
Your eyes are doves
behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
moving down the slopes of Gilead.
2Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
that have come up from the washing,
all of which bear twins,
and not one among them is bereaved.
3Your lips are like a crimson thread,
and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
4Your neck is like the tower of David,
built in courses;
on it hang a thousand bucklers,
all of them shields of warriors.
5Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle,
that feed among the lilies.
6Until the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
I will hasten to the mountain of myrrh
and the hill of frankincense.
7You are altogether beautiful, my love;
there is no flaw in you.
8Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;
come with me from Lebanon.
Departb from the peak of Amana,
from the peak of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountains of leopards.
9You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride,
you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
10How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride!
how much better is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
11Your lips distill nectar, my bride;
honey and milk are under your tongue;
the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.
12A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
a garden locked, a fountain sealed.
13Your channela is an orchard of pomegranates
with all choicest fruits,
henna with nard,
14nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
with all chief spices—
15a garden fountain, a well of living water,
and flowing streams from Lebanon.
16Awake, O north wind,
and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my garden
that its fragrance may be wafted abroad.
Let my beloved come to his garden,
and eat its choicest fruits.
5
I come to my garden, my sister, my bride;
I gather my myrrh with my spice,
I eat my honeycomb with my honey,
I drink my wine with my milk.
Eat, friends, drink,
and be drunk with love.
2I slept, but my heart was awake.
Listen! my beloved is knocking.
“Open to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my perfect one;
for my head is wet with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night.”
3I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on again?
I had bathed my feet;
how could I soil them?
4My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,
and my inmost being yearned for him.
5I arose to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
upon the handles of the bolt.
6I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and was gone.
My soul failed me when he spoke.
I sought him, but did not find him;
I called him, but he gave no answer.
7Making their rounds in the city
the sentinels found me;
they beat me, they wounded me,
they took away my mantle,
those sentinels of the walls.
8I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
tell him this:
I am faint with love.
9What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O fairest among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus adjure us?
10My beloved is all radiant and ruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand.
11His head is the finest gold;
his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
12His eyes are like doves
beside springs of water,
bathed in milk,
fitly set.a
13His cheeks are like beds of spices,
yielding fragrance.
His lips are lilies,
distilling liquid myrrh.
14His arms are rounded gold,
set with jewels.
His body is ivory work,a
encrusted with sapphires.b
15His legs are alabaster columns,
set upon bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
16His speech is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
6
Where has your beloved gone,
O fairest among women?
Which way has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?
2My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens,
and to gather lilies.
3I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
4You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
comely as Jerusalem,
terrible as an army with banners.
5Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me!
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
moving down the slopes of Gilead.
6Your teeth are like a flock of ewes,
that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins,
and not one among them is bereaved.
7Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
8There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
and maidens without number.
9My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
the darling of her mother,
flawless to her that bore her.
The maidens saw her and called her happy;
the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.
10“Who is this that looks forth like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
terrible as an army with banners?”
11I went down to the nut orchard,
to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12Before I was aware, my fancy set me
in a chariot beside my prince.a
Why should you look upon the Shulammite,
as upon a dance before two armies?c
7
How graceful are your feet in sandals,
O queenly maiden!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master hand.
2Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with lilies.
3Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,
overlooking Damascus.
5Your head crowns you like Carmel,
and your flowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.d
6How fair and pleasant you are,
O loved one, delectable maiden!e
7You are statelyf as a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its branches.
O may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
9and your kissesa like the best wine
that goes downb smoothly,
gliding over lips and teeth.c
10I am my beloved's,
and his desire is for me.
11Come, my beloved,
let us go forth into the fields,
and lodge in the villages;
12let us go out early to the vineyards,
and see whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and over our doors are all choice fruits,
new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
8
O that you were like a brother to me,
who nursed at my mother's breast!
If I met you outside, I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me.
2I would lead you and bring you
into the house of my mother,
and into the chamber of the one who bore me.d
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranates.
3O that his left hand were under my head,
and that his right hand embraced me!
4I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
do not stir up or awaken love
until it is ready!
5Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning upon 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.
6Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
7Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of one's house,
it would be utterly scorned.
8We have a little sister,
and she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister,
on the day when she is spoken for?
9If she is a wall,
we will build upon her a battlement of silver;
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
10I was a wall,
and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who bringsa peace.
11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he entrusted the vineyard to keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
12My vineyard, my very own, is for myself;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred!
13O you who dwell in the gardens,
my companions are listening for your voice;
let me hear it.