meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Writings/Song of Songs/English/The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001.txt"}
text: Song of Songs
  שיר השירים
  The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001
  
  
  Song of Songs
  
  
  
  
  
  The song of songs which is Shlomo’s.
  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is dearer than wine.
  Like the fragrance of good oils, your name is like flowing oil; therefore young maidens love you.
  Draw me, we will run after you; the king has brought me into his chambers, we will be glad and rejoice in you, we recall your love more than wine, they loved you sincerely.
  I am black, but comely, daughters of Jerusalem; like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Shlomo.
  Do not look upon me [with contempt] that I am so black, for the sun has tanned me; my mother’s sons were incensed against me, they made me keeper of the vineyards, [but] my own vineyard I did not watch.
  Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where do you graze your flock where do you rest your flock at noon; for why should I flit about around the flocks of your companions?
  If you do not know [you who are the] fairest of women; go forth in the footsteps of the sheep and pasture your kids near the dwellings of the shepherds.
  To steeds in the chariots of Pharaoh I have likened you, my beloved.
  Your cheeks are comely with rows of gems your neck with [pearl] necklaces.
  Circlets of gold we will make for you with spangles of silver.
  While the king was at his table, my spikenard gave out its fragrance.
  A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, between my breasts he shall lie.
  A cluster of henna is my beloved to me in the vineyards of En-gedi.
  Behold you are beautiful, my beloved, behold you are beautiful; your eyes are like doves.
  You are handsome, my beloved, most handsome; indeed our bed is fresh.
  The beams of our houses are cedars, our panels are cypresses.
  
  
  
  I am a rose of Sharon a rose of the valleys.
  As a rose among the thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.
  As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons; in its shade I delighted and sat, and its fruit was sweet to my palate.
  He brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner is raised over me in love.
  Sustain me with dainty cakes refresh my bed with [the scent of] apples; for I am lovesick.
  His left hand was under my head and his right would embrace me.
  I bind you under oath, daughters of Yerusholayim by the gazelles and the does of the field; that you do not cause hatred nor disturb this love while it still pleases.
  The voice of my beloved! Behold he comes; leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills.
  My beloved resembles a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he stands behind our wall, observing through the windows peering through the lattices.
  My beloved spoke and said to me, “Rise up, my beloved, my fair one, and go forth.
  For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over, and gone.
  The blossoms have appeared on the land, the time of singing has come; and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
  The fig tree has produced its green figs, and the grapevines tender grapes give out their fragrance; arise my beloved, my fair one, and go forth.
  My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the concealment of the cliff, show me your countenance, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your countenance is comely.
  Seize for us the foxes, little foxes that destroy vineyards [for] our vineyards are with tender grapes.”
  My beloved is mine, and I am his, who pastures among the roses.
  Until the sun spreads and the shadows flee; you turned away, my beloved, and became like a gazelle or a young hart on distant mountains.
  
  
  
  On my bed at night, I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him but did not find him.
  I will rise now and roam through the city, in the market places and in the streets, I will seek him whom my soul loves; I sought him but did not find him.
  The watchmen found me those who circle about the city; him whom my soul loves, have you seen him?
  Scarcely had I departed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves; I grasped him and would not let him go until I brought him to my mother’s house and to the chamber of her who conceived me.
  I bind you under oath, daughters of Yerusholayim by the gazelles and the does of the field; that you do not cause hatred nor disturb this love while it still pleases.
  Who is this ascending from the wilderness, with palm-like pillars of smoke; in a cloud of myrrh and frankincense, of all the powders of the perfume seller?
  Behold the bed of Shlomo, sixty mighty men are around it; of the mighty men of Yisroel.
  All of them holding swords, skilled in battle; each with his sword at his side for fear of the nights.
  A canopy has King Shlomo made of the wood of Levanon.
  Its pillars he made of silver, its covering of gold, its curtain of purple wool; its interior bedecked with love from the daughters of Yerusholayim.
  Go forth and gaze, daughters of Tzion, upon King Shlomo; upon the crown with which his mother adorned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day his heart rejoiced.
  
  
  
  Behold you are beautiful, my beloved, behold you are beautiful, your eyes are like doves from within your kerchief; your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilad.
  Your teeth are like a counted flock which have come up from the washing; all of which are perfect and none are blemished among them.
  Like a scarlet thread are your lips, and your speech is comely; like a slice of pomegranate are your cheeks from within your kerchief.
  Your neck is like the Tower of Dovid, built as a model of beauty; a thousand shields are hung upon it, all the quivers of the mighty.
  Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle who pasture among the roses.
  Until the sun spreads and the shadows flee; I will go to Mount Moriyah and to the hill of frankincense.
  You are completely beautiful, my beloved, and you are without blemish.
  With me [will you come] from Levanon O bride, with me from Levanon will you come; you will look from the peak of Amanah, from the peaks of Snir of Chermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of leopards.
  You captured my heart, my sister, O bride; you captured my heart with but one of your eyes, with one necklace of your necklaces.
  How beautiful is your love my sister, O bride; how superior is your love to wine, and the fragrance of your oils to all perfumes.
  Your lips drip flowing honey, O bride; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Levanon.
  A locked garden is my sister, O bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.
  Your arid fields are a pomegranate orchard with luscious fruits; henna with spikenard.
  Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes with all the major spices.
  You are a garden spring, a well of living waters; and flowing streams from Levanon.
  Awake, wind from the north and come, wind from the south, blow upon my garden so that its fragrance may flow; let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its luscious fruit.
  
  
  
  I have come to my garden, my sister, O bride, I have gathered my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my sugar cane with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk; eat [my] friends, drink and become intoxicated, [my] beloved ones.
  I slept but my heart was awake; a sound! My beloved knocks, open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfection, for my head is drenched [as though] with dew, my sidelocks drip with the rains of the night.
  I have removed my robe, how can I put it on? I have washed my feet, how can I soil them?
  My beloved sent forth his hand from the portal, and my innards longed for him.
  I arose to open for my beloved; and my hands dripped myrrh, and my fingers flowed with myrrh from the handles of the lock.
  I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had vanished and gone; my soul departed as he spoke, I sought him but could not find him, I called him but he would not answer.
  The watchmen found me, those who go about the city, they struck me, they wounded me; they stripped my ornament from me, [even] the guards of the walls.
  I bind you under oath, daughters of Yerusholayim; when you find my beloved, what will you tell him? that I am lovesick [for him.]
  With what does your beloved excel another beloved, most beautiful among women? With what does your beloved excel another beloved, that you bind us under oath?
  My beloved is pure white and ruddy, surrounded by myriads.
  His head is [like] finest gold, his locks hang, they are raven-black.
  His eyes are like doves upon brooks of water; bathed in milk, well set in their fullness.
  His cheeks are like a bed of spice, like towers of perfumes; his lips are like roses, dripping [with] flowing myrrh.
  His hands are like rolls of gold studded with precious gems; his innards sparkle like ivory, overlaid with sapphires.
  His legs are like pillars of marble set in sockets of fine gold; his appearance is like Levanon chosen like the cedars.
  [The words of] his palate are sweet, and he is all delight; this is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Yerusholayim.
  
  
  
  Where has your beloved gone O fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned that we may seek him with you?
  My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices; to graze in the gardens and to gather roses.
  I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine, who grazes among the roses.
  You are beautiful, my beloved, as Tirtzah, comely as Yerusholayim, awesome as the hosts [of angels].
  Turn your eyes away from me, for they made me haughty; your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilad.
  Your teeth are like a counted flock which have come up from the washing; all of which are perfect and none are blemished among them.
  Like a slice of pomegranate are your cheeks from within your kerchief.
  There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and young maidens without number.
  But she is unique, my dove, my perfect one, she is unique to her mother, she is pure to her who begot her; daughters saw her and acclaimed her, queens and concubines, and they praised her.
  Who is this that gazes down like the [breaking] dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as the hosts [of angels]?
  I went down to the garden of nuts, to see the moist plants of the valley; to see whether the vine had blossomed, if the pomegranates had sprouted.
  I did not know, my soul set me like chariots of a noble people.
  
  
  
  Turn back, turn back [you] perfect one, turn back, turn back, that we may observe you; what can you see [offer] the perfect one that equals the encirclement of the camps?
  How fair were your feet in sandals, O daughter of nobles; the roundness of your flanks, are like jewels, the work of a craftsman.
  Your navel is like a round bowl, which lacks not for mixed wines; your stomach is like a heap of wheat, hedged about with roses.
  Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.
  Your neck is like an ivory tower; your eyes are like pools in Cheshbon, at the gate of the populated city, your face is like a tower of Levanon looking out as far as Damascus.
  That which is upon your head is like Mount Carmel, and the braid of your head is like [royal] purple wool; your King is bound in its tresses.
  How beautiful and pleasant are you; a love with delights.
  Such is your stature, likened to a [stately] palm tree; and your breasts are like clusters.
  I said, I will ascend the palm tree, I will grasp its branches; and now, let your breasts remain like clusters of the vine, and the fragrance of your face like apples.
  And let your speech be like good wine; it flows for my beloved in sincerity, causing the lips of sleepers to murmur.
  I am my beloved’s and he longs for me.
  Come, my beloved, let us go out to the field, let us lodge in the villages.
  Let us rise early for the vineyards, let us see if the vine has blossomed, if the tender grapes have appeared, if the pomegranates are in bloom; there I will give my love to you.
  The baskets emit fragrance, and at our door are all luscious fruits, both new and old; my beloved, I have kept them for you.
  
  
  
  If only you were a brother to me, who had nursed at my mother’s bosom; when I would find you outside I would kiss you, and no one would scorn me.
  I would lead you, I would bring you to my mother’s house that you should teach me; I would give you spiced wine to drink, of the nectar of my pomegranate.
  His left hand is under my head and his right hand embraces me.
  I bind you under oath daughters of Yerusholayim why should you cause hatred or disturb [this] love while it still pleases?
  Who is she that rises from the wilderness, clinging to her beloved? beneath the apple tree I aroused you, there your mother had birth pains there she who bore you suffered.
  Set me as a seal upon your heart as a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as harsh as the grave; its flashes are flashes of fire from the flame of God.
  Many waters cannot quench the love, and rivers cannot drown it; if a man would give all the wealth of his house for love they would surely scorn him.
  We have a little sister but she has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?
  If she be a wall we will build upon her a fortress of silver, if she be a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.
  I am a wall and my bosom is like towers; therefore I am in his eyes as one who found peace.
  Shlomo had a vineyard in the Plain of Hamon, he gave over the vineyard to caretakers; each of them brought for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
  My vineyard is before me; the thousand are yours, Shlomo, and two hundred are for those who guard its fruit.
  You who sit in the gardens, companions listen to your voice, let me hear [your voice].
  Flee my beloved and be like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.