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Song of Songs 4

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1 ἰδοὺ εἶ καλή ἡ πλησίον μου ἰδοὺ εἶ καλή ὀφθαλμοί σου περιστεραὶ ἐκτὸς τῆς σιωπήσεώς σου τρίχωμά σου ὡς ἀγέλαι τῶν αἰγῶν αἳ ἀπεκαλύφθησαν ἀπὸ τοῦ Γαλααδ 2 ὀδόντες σου ὡς ἀγέλαι τῶν κεκαρμένων αἳ ἀνέβησαν ἀπὸ τοῦ λουτροῦ αἱ πᾶσαι διδυμεύουσαι καὶ ἀτεκνοῦσα οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐταῖς 3 ὡς σπαρτίον τὸ κόκκινον χείλη σου καὶ ἡ λαλιά σου ὡραία ὡς λέπυρον τῆς ῥόας μῆλόν σου ἐκτὸς τῆς σιωπήσεώς σου 4 ὡς πύργος Δαυιδ τράχηλός σου ὁ ᾠκοδομημένος εἰς θαλπιωθ χίλιοι θυρεοὶ κρέμανται ἐ{P'} αὐτόν πᾶσαι βολίδες τῶν δυνατῶν 5 δύο μαστοί σου ὡς δύο νεβροὶ δίδυμοι δορκάδος οἱ νεμόμενοι ἐν κρίνοις

1 How fair thou art, my true love, how fair![1] Eyes soft as dove’s eyes, half-seen behind thy veil; hair that clusters thick as the flocks of goats, when they come home from the Galaad hills; 2 teeth white as ewes fresh from the washing, well matched as the twin lambs that follow them; barren is none. 3 Thy lips a line of scarlet, guardians of that sweet utterance; thy cheeks shew through their veil rosy as a halved pomegranate. 4 Thy neck rising proudly, nobly adorned, like David’s embattled tower, hung about with a thousand shields, panoply of the brave; 5 graceful thy breasts as two fawns that feed among the lilies.

1

Sponsus. Quam pulchra es, amica mea! quam pulchra es!
Oculi tui columbarum,
absque eo quod intrinsecus latet.
Capilli tui sicut greges caprarum
quæ ascenderunt de monte Galaad. 2
Dentes tui sicut greges tonsarum
quæ ascenderunt de lavacro;
omnes gemellis fœtibus,
et sterilis non est inter eas. 3
Sicut vitta coccinea labia tua,
et eloquium tuum dulce.
Sicut fragmen mali punici, ita genæ tuæ,
absque eo quod intrinsecus latet. 4
Sicut turris David collum tuum,
quæ ædificata est cum propugnaculis;
mille clypei pendent ex ea,
omnis armatura fortium. 5
Duo ubera tua sicut duo hinnuli,
capreæ gemelli, qui pascuntur in liliis.

6 ἕως οὗ διαπνεύσῃ ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ κινηθῶσιν αἱ σκιαί πορεύσομαι ἐμαυτῷ πρὸς τὸ ὄρος τῆς σμύρνης καὶ πρὸς τὸν βουνὸν τοῦ Λιβάνου

6 Till the day grows cool, and the shadows long, myrrh-scented mountain and incense-breathing hill shall be my home.

6
Donec aspiret dies, et inclinentur umbræ,
vadam ad montem myrrhæ, et ad collem thuris.

7 ὅλη καλὴ εἶ ἡ πλησίον μου καὶ μῶμος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν σοί 8 δεῦρο ἀπὸ Λιβάνου νύμφη δεῦρο ἀπὸ Λιβάνου ἐλεύσῃ καὶ διελεύσῃ ἀπὸ ἀρχῆς πίστεως ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς Σανιρ καὶ Ερμων ἀπὸ μανδρῶν λεόντων ἀπὸ ὀρέων παρδάλεων

7 Fair in every part, my true love, no fault in all thy fashioning! 8 Venture forth from Lebanon, and come to me, my bride, my queen that shall be! Leave Amana behind thee, Sanir and Hermon heights, where the lairs of lions are, where the leopards roam the hills.[2]

7
Tota pulchra es, amica mea,
et macula non est in te. 8
Veni de Libano, sponsa mea:
veni de Libano, veni, coronaberis:
de capite Amana, de vertice Sanir et Hermon,
de cubilibus leonum, de montibus pardorum.

9 ἐκαρδίωσας ἡμᾶς ἀδελφή μου νύμφη ἐκαρδίωσας ἡμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀπὸ ὀφθαλμῶν σου ἐν μιᾷ ἐνθέματι τραχήλων σου 10 τί ἐκαλλιώθησαν μαστοί σου ἀδελφή μου νύμφη τί ἐκαλλιώθησαν μαστοί σου ἀπὸ οἴνου καὶ ὀσμὴ ἱματίων σου ὑπὲρ πάντα τὰ ἀρώματα 11 κηρίον ἀποστάζουσιν χείλη σου νύμφη μέλι καὶ γάλα ὑπὸ τὴν γλῶσσάν σου καὶ ὀσμὴ ἱματίων σου ὡς ὀσμὴ Λιβάνου 12 κῆπος κεκλεισμένος ἀδελφή μου νύμφη κῆπος κεκλεισμένος πηγὴ ἐσφραγισμένη 13 ἀποστολαί σου παράδεισος ῥοῶν μετὰ καρποῦ ἀκροδρύων κύπροι μετὰ νάρδων 14 νάρδος καὶ κρόκος κάλαμος καὶ κιννάμωμον μετὰ πάντων ξύλων τοῦ Λιβάνου σμύρνα αλωθ μετὰ πάντων πρώτων μύρων 15 πηγὴ κήπων φρέαρ ὕδατος ζῶντος καὶ ῥοιζοῦντος ἀπὸ τοῦ Λιβάνου

9 What a wound thou hast made, my bride, my true love, what a wound thou hast made in this heart of mine! And all with one glance of an eye, all with one ringlet straying on thy neck! 10 Sweet, sweet are thy caresses, my bride, my true love; wine cannot ravish the senses like that embrace, nor any spices match the perfume that breathes from thee. 11 Sweet are thy lips, my bride, as honey dripping from its comb; honey-sweet thy tongue, and soft as milk; the perfume of thy garments is very incense. 12 My bride, my true love, a close garden; hedged all about, a spring shut in and sealed! What wealth of grace is here! 13 Well-ordered rows of pomegranates, tree of cypress and tuft of nard; 14 no lack there whether of spikenard or saffron, of calamus, cinnamon, or incense-tree,[3] of myrrh, aloes or any rarest perfume. 15 A stream bordered with garden; water so fresh never came tumbling down from Lebanon.

9
Vulnerasti cor meum, soror mea, sponsa;
vulnerasti cor meum in uno oculorum tuorum,
et in uno crine colli tui. 10
Quam pulchræ sunt mammæ tuæ, soror mea sponsa!
pulchriora sunt ubera tua vino,
et odor unguentorum tuorum super omnia aromata. 11
Favus distillans labia tua, sponsa;
mel et lac sub lingua tua:
et odor vestimentorum tuorum sicut odor thuris. 12
Hortus conclusus soror mea, sponsa,
hortus conclusus, fons signatus. 13
Emissiones tuæ paradisus malorum punicorum,
cum pomorum fructibus, cypri cum nardo. 14
Nardus et crocus, fistula et cinnamomum,
cum universis lignis Libani;
myrrha et aloë, cum omnibus primis unguentis. 15
Fons hortorum, puteus aquarum viventium,
quæ fluunt impetu de Libano.

16 ἐξεγέρθητι βορρᾶ καὶ ἔρχου νότε διάπνευσον κῆπόν μου καὶ ῥευσάτωσαν ἀρώματά μου καταβήτω ἀδελφιδός μου εἰς κῆπον αὐτοῦ καὶ φαγέτω καρπὸν ἀκροδρύων αὐτοῦ

16 North wind, awake; wind of the south, awake and come; blow through this garden of mine, and set its fragrance all astir.

16
Sponsa. Surge, aquilo, et veni, auster:
perfla hortum meum, et fluant aromata illius.

[1] This chapter forms a love-song which has no special reference to any particular situation; they may be understood as words addressed to the village girl by her lover, and heard either literally or in the imagination.

[2] ‘My queen that shall be’; literally, ‘thou shalt be crowned’. The Hebrew text has simply ‘Look down’, or perhaps, ‘Make thy way down’. It is difficult to see why the various heights of the Lebanon range should be mentioned here; unless, indeed, we may suppose that the house called ‘the Forest of Lebanon’ (III Kg. 7.2 and elsewhere) had its different parts or rooms named after these peaks.

[3] ‘Incense-tree’; the Latin version here transliterates, ‘trees of Lebanon’, instead of translating the second noun.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd