Song of Solomon 2King James Version
Some of the most quoted lines in the book. 'I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.' 'As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.' 'He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.' 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.'
The bride calls herself the rose of Sharon and lily of the valleys. The bridegroom celebrates her above all other women. They share shade and fruit under the apple tree, and he brings her to a banqueting house under the banner of love. She is sick with desire. His arms hold her as she begs the daughters not to rush love. Then his voice comes bleaping over the hills, calling her out into the springtime world just awakened.
Love has its own season, and forcing it before it is ready spoils it. When the time is right, the beloved comes leaping over mountains.
verse: "My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies." (2:16), Mutual possession, freely given, stated with the calm certainty of someone who has nothing left to prove.
Spring has arrived with force: flowers on the earth, turtledoves calling, fig trees leafing, vines perfuming the air. The beloved appears at the window, then calls from behind the wall. The scene reads like any great love story's moment when winter finally ends and the world conspires to bring two people together.
The bride, overwhelmed with love and needing to be held. The bridegroom, compared to a gazelle or young stag, agile and eager. The daughters of Jerusalem, twice-charged to let love wake on its own terms.
The recurring refrain not to stir up love before it pleases is the poem's most pastoral wisdom, honoring love's natural rhythm. Allegorically, the springtime invitation has been read as God calling Israel out of winter exile, or Christ calling the church from dormancy into active life.
There is a giddiness here that tips into physical need: she is sick with love, literally faint, needing to be steadied. When his voice finally arrives outside the wall, the joy shifts into motion.
1I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
2As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
3As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
5Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
6His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
7I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
8The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
9My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.
10My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
11For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
13The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
14O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
15Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
16My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
17Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.