About the Song of Songs
People in the book This is a book about love. It is a story about a man and a woman. The man loves only the woman. The woman loves only the man. We read about the woman’s brothers. We read about the woman’s mother. We do not read anything about her father. There is also a group of friends. All or almost all of them are women.
We do not know a lot about the man or about the woman. In parts of the story, the writer calls the man a king. He may be King Solomon. But maybe the writer uses the word ‘king’ only to show that the woman respects him.
Also, we must ask, ‘Did the man and woman really live? Or, is this about any man and woman who love each other?’
The words in the book
Some people believe that this book is a set of songs. Together they make one larger song. The songs are like each other. The songs may be words only with no music. The songs have the same ideas. The writer repeats ideas in different ways. Maybe the songs are about different people. It is difficult to find the beginning and the end of each song. Other people believe that this is one song, not a set of songs. It tells one story only. It is about the same people. It is not the whole story from beginning to end. It seems that the writer has told only parts of the story. The story is not easy to understand. But love is not easy to understand!
The person who wrote this book was from the East. The way that the writer puts the words together shows this fact to us. Sometimes we have to ask, ‘Has an event already happened?’ ‘Is this happening now?’ ‘Will this happen at some future time?’ We are not always sure.
We do not know, always, who is speaking. Also, we may not know which person they are speaking to. For example, the woman sometimes speaks to the man. Sometimes she speaks to the group of women friends. Sometimes she may only be speaking aloud. This is to show her thoughts to us. Maybe sometimes the woman is only thinking and hoping. It may not be happening outside of her mind. To help you, we have put the names of the people above their words. This is how we understand it.
When you read this book, you may feel certain things. You may think that you are with the man and woman in the story. The writer has caused this to happen. We read about how the man and the woman touch. And we read about how they kiss. We read about how they taste wine and apple. We read about the smell of things. We know that the story is really happening!
Marriage in the book
In some countries, the parents decide about the person that their child will marry. The man and woman may not know each other much until after they are married. In other countries, they meet each other. But their parents have not decided this. The man and woman may have a long time to be best friends. Then they marry. This book does not say anything about the marriage. It seems that the man and woman do have some time together before the marriage. They enjoy that time. But they do not have sex until after the marriage.
There may be a time when the husband and his wife become parents. The book seems to say that they can have children. But it is not about the birth of children. It is not about families. The book is about the man and woman as best friends.
How the writer describes things in the book
The book describes what God has made. It also describes things that people have made. These ideas cause the reader to think about the man and woman. For example, we read about land where there are farms. This gives the idea that a man and his wife can make a new life. They may have a baby together. The man can see a long way from the hills. This shows that his love can become larger. Valuable stones show that the man and woman are very valuable to each other. Often a word or a group of words can mean two things. For example, the word vineyard can mean that the woman is in a vineyard. Also, the word vineyard can mean that she is like a vineyard. The word garden can mean that the man and woman are in a garden. But it can also mean that the woman’s body is like a garden. The writer uses the word garden to mean the woman’s body in chapter 4. This is when the man and woman are enjoying sex.
1
The writer
1 Solomon’s Song of Songs.Solomon was a very rich king. He lived more than 900 years before Christ (BC). He had a group of about 1000 songs. This is the most important song. Perhaps he liked this song best.Solomon may have written the book. Or it may be a book about Solomon, or about another rich man. Many people respected King Solomon. So the writer may have used Solomon’s name here. Another person may have written the book. He or she put it with Solomon’s other songs.King Solomon accepted this book. He had a very good mind. He understood many things. This is how it became part of the Bible.The book is more about the woman than about the man. Also, the book is more about how a woman, rather than a man, thinks. And it is more about how a woman feels. So a woman may have written the book. Woman
2 I really want him to kiss me with his lips. Your love makes me happier than wine does.
3 You have put something on your body. Certainly, it has a lovely smell.The sound of your name causes me pleasure like that too. I am not surprised that the young women love you!
4 Take me away with you. Come quickly. I want the king to take me into his rooms.The man may be a king. Or, to her, he may be like a king. This is because she has a lot of respect for him. Women friendsWe are very happy!You make us happy. Your love is better than wine. We will speak and sing about it.The woman is with some friends. The women friends are speaking about the man, not about the woman. WomanI agree! They are right to think about you like that. And they are right to love you like that.
5 Daughters of Jerusalem, my skin is dark but lovely. It is dark like the tents of Kedar. It is dark but lovely like the curtains in Solomon’s tent.
6 Do not continue to look at me because my skin is dark. The sun has made my skin like this.My mother’s sons were angry with me. They caused me to work in the vineyards. I had to watch over the vineyards. So I could not watch over my own vineyard.The writer calls the friends the ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’. Jerusalem was the capital city where Solomon was king. Kedar was a group of people. They moved from place to place. They lived in tents. They made tents of black goats’ hair.The woman now speaks to the man that she loves. Woman
7 I love you.Tell me where your sheep eat the grass. Where do you lead your sheep so that they can rest at midday?When I am near your friends with their animals,I do not want to wear a veil over my face! Man
8 You are the most beautiful woman of all.If you do not know where to find me, follow the marks from the feet of the sheep.Let your young goats eat grass by the tents of those who watch over the sheep.The woman speaks to the man. She wants to know where he will be. She does not want to look here and there for him. She might wear a veil. Nobody except the man would recognise her. But she does not want to seem like a woman who has sex for money. So she does not want to cover her face.So the man and woman meet as they have agreed. Man
9 You are my best friend. I love you more than anyone else. You seem to me like a female horse that pulls one of Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Your face is beautiful with ear-rings. Round your neck are valuable stones, which make it very pretty.
11 We will make ear-rings for you. We will make them out of gold with pieces of silver in.Pharaoh is the name that people use for all the kings of Egypt. Egypt is a country near to where King Solomon lived.The man says that people will see the woman easily in a group of men and women.After this meeting, the woman talks to her friends about her time with the man. Woman
12 The king was lying down and he was eating. I had put something on my skin that has a lovely smell. This smell moved into the air.
13 To me, the man that I love is like a little bag of myrrh. He is like the little bag of myrrh that lies between my breasts.
14 To me he is like a group of henna flowers. He is like flowers that grow in the vineyards at En Gedi.En Gedi is the name of a lovely pool of water in a very dry place. Man
15 How beautiful you are! My best friend, you are very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves. Woman
16 You are very handsome and you love me. You are very lovely!This green field of fresh, long grass is our bed. Man
17 The beams of our house are the cedar trees. The trees, with green leaves all of the time, are above us like a roof.
2
Woman
1 I am a wild flower of Sharon. I am a lily from the valleys. Man
2 Among other young women, my best friend that I love is like a lily among thorns.Sharon is a place near to where the man and the woman live. It is near the sea and it is flat. There is a lot of rain there, so there are many pretty wild flowers. The lily is also a pretty flower but it is very common.The woman is saying that there is nothing special about her. But the man knows that, to him, she is special. She is really lovely. Now other women do not seem beautiful at all.Now the woman talks to her friends again. Woman
3 Among the other young men, the man who loves me is like an apple tree. He is like an apple tree among the trees of the forest.I love to sit in his shade. His fruit is sweet. It tastes nice.
4 He has taken me to the banquet hall. Everyone can see that he loves me.
5 I am weak with love. So, give raisins to me to make me strong. Give apples to me to keep me awake.
6 His left arm is under my head. His right arm draws me near to him.
7 Daughters of Jerusalem, please do not cause someone to feel love for another person; not until he or she wants to.I am saying this because I really mean it. I beg you on behalf of the gazelles and the young female deer in the field.
8 Listen! I hear the man who loves me! Look! He is coming! He moves quickly across the mountains.He runs and he jumps. He comes over the hills.
9 The man who loves me is like a gazelle or like a young male deer.Look! There he is! He is standing behind our wall.He is looking through the windows. He is trying to see through the lattice.
10 The man who loves me spoke. He said to me, ‘My beautiful best friend, I love you. Please get up and come with me.
11 See! The winter is past. The rains have finished.
12 Flowers are appearing in country places. It is now the season to sing. Near here, we can hear the lovely sound that the doves are making.
13 The new fruit on the fig trees is growing. The smell from the flowers on the vines is moving into the air.My beautiful best friend, I love you. Please get up and come with me.’ Man
14 You are like a dove that is hiding in a rock. You are like a dove that is hiding in the mountains.Show your face to me because it is lovely.Let me hear your voice because it has a beautiful sound.
15 Catch the foxes for us. Catch the little foxes that destroy the vineyards. They destroy our vines when the flowers are appearing.When foxes dig holes they may destroy vines. The foxes may mean anyone or anything that stops the man and woman being friends. Woman
16 The man who loves me is mine. And I am his. He eats slowly among the lilies.
17 My best friend that I love, turn round until the dawn.Until the shadows have gone, be like a gazelle. Or be like a young male deer on the hills of rock.
3
The woman has a dream. Some time after that, she tells her friends about it. Woman
1 All night I lay in bed. I looked for the man that I love. I looked for him but he did not appear.
2 I thought, ‘I will get up now and I will go into the city. I will look everywhere for the man that I really love. I will go through all the streets. I will look in all the market places.’So I looked for him. But I did not find him.
3 The security guards were working. They walked through the streets of the city. They found me. I said, ‘Have you seen the man that I love very much?’
4 I passed them.Just then, I found the man that I love! I hugged him. I would not let him go. I held him until I had brought him to my mother’s house.I brought him to my mother’s room. (There my life started, in my mother’s body.)
5 Daughters of Jerusalem, please do not cause someone to feel love for another person; not until he or she wants to.I am saying this because I really mean it. I beg you on behalf of the gazelles and the young female deer in the field. The Writer
6 Who is this who is appearing from the empty land? What is this smoke that is rising? There is a lovely smell of myrrh and incense.The smell of the trader’s spices fills the air.
7 Look! It is King Solomon’s sedan chair and 60 soldiers are travelling with it. The soldiers are very brave. They are the best in Israel.
8 All of them wear a sword. Each man is ready to use it. They have all fought in many wars. They are ready for the dangers of the night.
9 King Solomon made the sedan chair for himself. He made it out of wood from Lebanon.
10 He made the posts out of silver. He used gold for the part where the passenger’s feet rest.The Daughters of Jerusalem put a comfortable purple cloth over the seat to cover it. They were careful to make it beautiful inside.
11 Daughters of Zion, come out.Look at King Solomon who is wearing his crown. His mother put the crown on him. She put it on him on his marriage day. It was the day that he was very happy.The ‘smoke’ that is rising may be sand or dirt from the ground. It blows about because many people are moving. But there is a lovely smell of spice. So the writer is thinking about lovely smells from the smoke of plants that are burning.Lebanon is a country in the Middle East where there are mountains and many trees. It is next to the country where Solomon was king.In this book, the writer uses the word purple to mean something valuable. It is a colour that kings and queens would use.Verses 7 and 9 may mean that King Solomon is the man in the story. But, if not, maybe the man and woman are singing a song at their marriage. The song that they sing is about Solomon’s marriage.‘Daughters of Zion’ seems to be another name for the friends. Zion is the name of a hill in Jerusalem. People often use the word Zion to mean all Jerusalem.
4
Man
1 How beautiful you are! My best friend that I love, you are certainly very beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are like doves.Your hair is like a group of goats. It is like goats that are coming down Mount Gilead.Mount Gilead is a mountain in the country where Solomon was king. Man
2 Your teeth are white like a group of sheep. They are like sheep after someone has cut off their dirty wool. They are like sheep that are coming out of the pool of water. Each tooth is one of a pair. Not one of them is alone.
3 Your lips are bright red. They are bright red like a ribbon. Your mouth is lovely.The sides of your face are round like the halves of a pomegranate. Your veil hides them.The woman may be wearing a veil. This may show that she has just married the man. But the word veil may mean only that her husband does not know her very well yet. Man
4 Your neck is like the beautiful, important tower that King David built. The shields of 1000 soldiers hang from the stones round it.King David was Solomon’s father. Man
5 Your breasts are like two young gazelles that were born to their mother on the same day. They walk slowly among the lilies and they eat the grass.
6 Until the dawn, I will go to the mountain of myrrh. Until the shadows go, I will go to the hill with the lovely smell.
7 You are my best friend and I love you. I find that every part of you is beautiful. There is no part of you that is not lovely.
8 Come with me from Lebanon. You are my new wife.Come with me from Lebanon. Come down from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir. Come down from the highest part of Hermon. Come away from the lions’ homes and from the places in the mountains where there are leopards.Lebanon, Amana, Senir and Hermon are all places that are a long way away. Man
9 I love you so much that I never want to leave you. You are my sister and my new wife. After one glance of your eyes, I knew that I wanted you more than anyone else.I see one of the valuable stones that hang round your neck. And then I know that you are the most valuable person to me.The man says the word ‘sister’ because now he is part of her family. Man
10 Your love to me is certainly very good, my sister, my new wife. It gives to me more pleasure than when I drink wine.You have a smell that is lovelier than any spice!
11 Your lips taste sweet, my new wife.They taste like honey that falls from the honeycomb. Milk and honey are under your tongue.The smell of your clothes is like the smell of Lebanon.
12 You are like a garden that you have locked up, my sister, and my new wife. You are like a spring that someone has covered. You are like a fountain that nobody has opened. Water cannot rise from it.
13 Your garden is full of pomegranate trees with their sweet fruit. There are fruits that many people like.There are henna and nard.
14 There are nard, saffron, calamus and cinnamon.There are many different plants that have lovely smells. There are myrrh and aloes. All the best spices are there.Henna, nard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, myrrh and aloes are all things that people get from plants. They have bright colours or they taste lovely. They may have nice smells. Man
15 You are like a fountain in a garden. You are like a well that is full of water. The water now comes quickly down from Lebanon. Woman
16 Awake, north wind! Come, south wind! Blow on my garden so that its lovely smell will move all over the place.I really want the man that I love to come into his garden. Let him taste the best fruits.
5
Man
1 I have come into my garden, my sister and my new wife. I have taken my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey. I have drunk my wine and my milk. The WriterEat, friends, and drink. You love each other! Drink until you no longer need a drink.The woman sleeps. She has another dream. The woman is telling her friends about her dream. Woman
2 I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! The man who loves me is knocking. ‘Open the door for me, my sister’, he said. ‘You are my best friend that I love the most. To me you are like a dove. Nobody is lovelier than you. Water from the night air covers my head. My hair is very wet.’
3 I said, ‘I have taken off my day clothes. I do not want to put them on again.