Chorus
1Return, return, O Shulammite,
return, that we may look at you!He
He Why would you look at the Shulammite,
as dancing between two rows? 2 ① How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
daughter of the prince!
Your shapely thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master artist. 3Your navel is a bowl well-rounded,
never lacking exquisitely blended wine.
Your belly is a mound of wheat
with lilies around it. 4Your breasts are two fawns,
twins of a gazelle. 5Your neck is an ivory tower.
Your eyes are pools in Heshbon
by the gate of Bath-rabbim;
your nose, the tower of Lebanon
looking towards Damascus. 6Your crowned head is Mount Carmel;
your flowing hair is royal purple,
which holds a king captive in its tresses. 7How beautiful you are, how lovely,
my beloved, in your delights! 8Like a palm tree, you are stately
and like its clusters are your breasts. 9I said, “I will climb the palm tree
and take hold of its fruits.”
May your breasts be clusters of the vine,
your breath sweet-scented as apples,
and your mouth like the best wine.
She
10 ② May the wine flow straight to my lover,
flowing over from my lips. 11I am my lover’s
but it is he who depends on me. 12Come, my love,
let us go to the countryside,
and pass the night in the villages. 13Let us go early to the vineyards
to see if the vines have flowered,
if the buds have opened,
and the pomegranates have blossomed.
There I will give you my love. 14The mandrakes yield their fragrance;
at our doors are the rarest fruits;
both new and old I have stored
for you, my love.
- Song 7,2 This description of the loved one, no doubt, is a traditional feature of the songs of the bride and bridegroom (see Introduction), but it certainly speaks of Palestine. The king held captive in the tresses is most probably the very small kingdom of Tyre in the north, also mentioned in psalm 45. Song 7,10 I am my lover's but it is he who depends on me. Taken from the words in Genesis (3:16), but here the curse that strikes the woman has turned another way; it is not she who is necessarily subject to her husband: it is he who needs her. God needs me and not to do a work for him! It is an experience of created life and of love that he wants to have together with me and that he can only have through me.
- Song 7,2 This description of the loved one, no doubt, is a traditional feature of the songs of the bride and bridegroom (see Introduction), but it certainly speaks of Palestine. The king held captive in the tresses is most probably the very small kingdom of Tyre in the north, also mentioned in psalm 45. Song 7,10 I am my lover's but it is he who depends on me. Taken from the words in Genesis (3:16), but here the curse that strikes the woman has turned another way; it is not she who is necessarily subject to her husband: it is he who needs her. God needs me and not to do a work for him! It is an experience of created life and of love that he wants to have together with me and that he can only have through me.
