5
1 I am come into my gan (garden), my sister, my kallah;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my devash (honey);
I have drunk my yayin with my cholov (milk).
Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, dodim.
2 I sleep, but my lev waketh:
it is the voice of dodi (my beloved) that knocketh, saying:
Open to me, my sister, my love,
my yonah (dove) tammati (my undefiled, my perfect one);
for my head is filled with tal (dew),
and my hair with the drops of the lailah.
3 I have put off my kuttonet (kesones, chiton, robe);
how shall I put it on?
I have washed my feet;
how shall I defile them?
4 Dodi (my beloved) thrust his hand through the latch-opening,
my heart began pounding for him.
5 I arose to open to dodi (my beloved);
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh,
upon the handles of the man'ul (lock, door bolt).
6 I opened to dodi (my beloved);
but dodi had withdrawn and gone;
my nefesh departed when he spoke;
I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7 The shomrim (watchmen) that went about the city found me,
they beat me, they wounded me;
the shomrei hachomat* took away my cloak from me.
8 I charge you, O banot Yerushalayim,
if ye find dodi (my beloved),
what will ye tell him?
Tell him shecholat ahavah ani (I am faint with ahavah, lovesick).†
9 How is thy beloved more than another beloved,
O thou fairest among nashim?
How is thy beloved more than another beloved,
that thou dost so charge us?
10 Dodi (my beloved) is radiant and ruddy,
unrivaled by ten thousand.
11 His head is like the purest gold,
his hair is wavy and shachor (black) as the raven.
12 His eyes are like yonim (doves) by the streams of mayim,
washed with cholov, jewels fitly set.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spices,
like sweet flowers;
his lips like shoshanim (lilies),
dripping sweet scented myrrh.
14 His hands are like rods of zahav set with chrysolites;
his body is like a polished work of ivory decorated with sapphires.
15 His legs are like pillars of marble,
set upon sockets of fine zahav;
his countenance is like the Levanon,
bachor (one being choice) like the cedars.
16 His mouth is most sweet;
yea, he is machamaddim (altogether desirable).‡
This is dodi (my beloved), and this is my friend,
O banot Yerushalayim.§
* 5:7 i.e., the shomrim, the guardians [of the city on the wall] † 5:8 see 2:5 ‡ 5:16 See Song 2:3; Hag 2:7 says Moshiach is the Desired of all Nations § 5:16 T.N. The next chapter is commented on extensively in the Orthodox Jewish Bible Introduction. This section is one of the most important Scriptures in the Bible because it buttresses Isa 7:14 and its foundational meaning.