Song of Songs 7:1-8:14

1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,

my princess!

7:1Sandals are light shoes that do not completely cover the person's feet. A princess is a daughter of a king or a queen.

Your round hips are as beautiful as jewels

that a clever worker has made.

7:1The hips are the top part of a person's legs, where they join the body.

2 Your navel is like a round bowl

that is always full of good wine.

7:2A person's navel is the place on their body where they were joined to their mother before birth.

Your stomach is like a round heap of wheat

with lilies around the edge.

3 Your breasts are like two young gazelles

that are twins.

4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.

Your eyes shine like the pools in Heshbon

that are near the Bath Rabbim gate.

7:4Heshbon was a town in Israel.

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon

that looks towards Damascus.

7:4Damascus was an important capital city.

5 Your head stands tall on you, like Mount Carmel.

7:5Mount Carmel is a mountain in Israel.

Your long hair hangs down like a royal cloth.

It is so beautiful that it can make the king its prisoner!

6 You are very beautiful, my dear friend,

and I love you.

You give a lot of pleasure to me.

7 You stand like a tall palm tree.

Your breasts are like bunches of fruit that hang from the tree.

7:7A bunch of fruit is a group of fruits that are growing on the same piece of branch.

8 I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree.

I will take hold of its fruit.’

For me, your breasts are like bunches of grapes.

Your breath is like the sweet smell of apples.

9 For me, your mouth has the taste of the best wine.

The young woman:

May the wine pour out for my lover.

May it pour over his lips and his teeth.

10 I belong to my lover,

and he wants to be with me!

11 Come with me now, my lover!

Let us go and walk through the fields.

We can stay in the villages for the night.

12 We can get up early in the morning

and go to the vineyards.

We can see if the vines have started to make new leaves.

We can see if their flowers have opened.

We can see if the pomegranate trees have flowers.

When we are there

I will give my love to you.

13 The mandrake plants send out their sweet smell.

At our door, there are many good things to eat.

7:13A mandrake is a plant that people eat. Its root has a shape like a human body. People thought that it helped them to enjoy sex. Sometimes people stored fruit over the door of their house. Then it would become dry, sweet fruit that people would enjoy.

I have stored many good things that are both old and new.

I have kept them all for you, my lover.

Song of Songs 8

The young woman:

1 I would like it if you were my brother

who drank milk from my mother's breasts!

If you were my brother,

if I found you outside, I could kiss you.

Nobody would think that I was doing something wrong.

2 I would lead you to my mother's house.

She is the one who has taught me.

I would give you wine with spices to drink,

the juice from my pomegranates.

3 His left hand is under my head.

His right hand brings me near to him.

4 Promise this to me, young women of Jerusalem:

Do not cause our love to wake up.

Do not cause it to become too strong

until the time is right.

The young women of Jerusalem:

5 Who is this who is coming from the desert?

Her head is on her lover's shoulder.

The young woman:

Under the apple tree,

I caused your love to wake.

That is the place where your mother became pregnant.

In that place too, your mother gave birth to you in pain.

6 Keep me near to you, like a seal over your heart.

8:6A man might put a seal on something to show that it belongs to him. He might hang a valuable thing around his neck. Or he might wear it on his arm or on his finger.

Keep me like a seal on your arm.

Keep me there always,

because love is as powerful as death.

It keeps hold of people as strongly as the grave does.

Love burns like a hot fire.

It burns with bright flames.

7 Even a flood of water cannot stop the flames.

Rivers of water cannot carry it away.

A man might try to give all his riches

to buy a woman's love.

But she would refuse to accept what he offers to her.

The young woman's brothers:

8 We have a younger sister.

Her breasts have not yet grown.

What will we do to help her

when it is the time for her to marry?

9 If she is a wall,

we will use silver to build towers on her.

But if she is a door,

we will use boards of cedar wood to keep the door shut.

The young woman:

10 I am a wall.

My breasts are like strong towers.

So my lover is happy when he looks at me.

11 King Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon.

He allowed other people to take care of it.

They each paid him 1,000 silver coins for its fruit.

12 But my own vineyard belongs to me alone.

I take care of it myself.

You may keep the 1,000 silver coins, Solomon.

And I will give 200 silver coins to those who take care of the fruit.

The young man:

13 You have been staying in the garden

with your friends who are listening to you.

Let me too hear your voice!

The young woman:

14 Come quickly to me now, my lover!

Run like a gazelle or a young deer.

Come to the mountains that have sweet spices!