Chapter 7
The Beauty of the Beloved
1 D? Turn, turn, O Shulammite!
turn, turn that we may gaze upon you!
W How can you gaze upon the Shulammite
as at the dance of the two camps?
2 M How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O noble daughter!
Your curving thighs like jewels,
the product of skilled hands.
3 Your valley, a round bowl
that should never lack mixed wine.
Your belly, a mound of wheat,
encircled with lilies.
4 (A)Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
5 (B)Your neck like a tower of ivory;
your eyes, pools in Heshbon
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose like the tower of Lebanon
that looks toward Damascus.
6 Your head rises upon you like Carmel;
your hair is like purple;
a king is caught in its locks.
Love’s Desires
7 How beautiful you are, how fair,
my love, daughter of delights!
8 Your very form resembles a date-palm,
and your breasts, clusters.
9 I thought, “Let me climb the date-palm!
Let me take hold of its branches!
Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine
and the fragrance of your breath like apples,
10 And your mouth like the best wine—
Wthat flows down smoothly for my lover,
gliding over my lips and teeth.
11 (C)I belong to my lover,
his yearning is for me.
12 Come, my lover! Let us go out to the fields,
let us pass the night among the henna.
13 (D)Let us go early to the vineyards, and see
if the vines are in bloom,
If the buds have opened,
if the pomegranates have blossomed;
There will I give you my love.
14 The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and over our doors are all choice fruits;
Fruits both fresh and dried, my lover,
have I kept in store for you.
Footnotes
- 7:1
- 7:2–6
- 7:3
- 7:5
- 7:6
- 7:8–9
- 7:10
- 7:11–14
- 7:14
Cross references
- 7:4 : Sg 4:5.
- 7:5 : Sg 4:4.
- 7:11 : Sg 2:16; 6:3.
- 7:13 : Sg 6:11.
