Song of Solomon
Chapter 2
The woman and the man take turns praising each other with pictures from the countryside: a lily among thorns, a fruit tree in the forest, a gazelle on the hills. The man comes to her window and calls her out to see that winter has ended and spring has arrived. The chapter closes with her warning to the women of Jerusalem not to rush love, and with her calling her beloved back to her.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
1The woman says: I am a flower from the plain of Sharon, a lily from the valleys.
2As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
2The man answers: Set beside the other young women, my darling is like a lily growing among thorns.
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.
3The woman says: Set beside the other young men, the one I love is like a fruit tree among the wild trees of the forest. I love to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to me.
4He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
4He brought me into the hall where the wine is served, and the flag he raised over me was love.
5Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
5Keep me strong with raisin cakes. Refresh me with apples. I am weak with love.
"Stay me with flagons" does not mean jugs of drink. The word means pressed cakes of raisins. And "sick of love" does not mean tired of love: it means faint or weak because of love.
6His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
6His left hand is under my head, and his right arm holds me close.
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.
7Women of Jerusalem, I make you promise me this, by the gazelles and the wild deer of the fields: do not stir up love or wake it before the right time.
8The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
8Listen! It is the one I love. Look, here he comes, leaping over the mountains and jumping across 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.
9The one I love is like a gazelle or a young deer. Look, he is standing behind our wall, looking in at the windows, peeking through the crisscrossed screen.
10My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
10The one I love spoke to me and said, "Get up, my darling. My beautiful one, come away with me.
11For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
11Look, the winter is over. The rains have stopped 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;
12Flowers are blooming across the land. The time for singing has come. Doves are cooing in our country.
"The voice of the turtle" means the cooing of the turtledove, a bird. It has nothing to do with the shelled animal.
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.
13The fig tree is growing its first figs. The blooming vines smell sweet. Get up, my darling. My beautiful one, come away with me."
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.
14My dove, hiding in the cracks of the rock, in the hidden places of the cliff, let me see your face. Let me hear your voice. Your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
15Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
15Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, because our vines are in bloom.
16My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
16The one I love is mine, and I am his. He feeds his flock 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.
17Before the day dawns and the shadows slip away, turn back to me, the one I love. Be like a gazelle or a young deer on the hills of Bether.
Bether is a place name. Nobody today knows for sure where it was, and some translations read it as "rugged hills" instead.
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