The Skeptics Annotated Bible (522 page)

6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.

9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.

10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.

11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.

12 While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.

13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me;
he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts
.

(1.13) “He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.”

14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.

15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes.

16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.

17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

2
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

(2.3-17)

3 As 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.

(2.3) “I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”

4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

6
His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

7 I 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.

(2.6-7) “His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me … stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.”

8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

9
My 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.

(2.9) “My 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.”

10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

12 The 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;

13 The 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.

14 O 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.

(2.14)
“In the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance … for … thy countenance is comely.”

15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

16
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.

(2.16) “My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.”

17
Until 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.

(2.17)
“Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains.”

(3.1-5)

3
By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth
: I sought him, but I found him not.

(3.1)
“By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth.”

2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

4 It was but a little that I passed from them, but
I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

(3.4) “I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.”

5 I 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.

(3.5)
“Stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.”

6 Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

7 Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

9 King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

4
Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.

(4.2-4) Your teeth are like shorn sheep that bear fertile twins; your neck is like a tower with a thousand shields hanging on it.

2 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.

(4.2)
“Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.”

3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.

4
Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.

(4.4)
“Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.”

(4.5-16)

5
Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins
, which feed among the lilies.

(4.5)
“Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.”
Quoted by John-boy in
The Homecoming: A Christmas Story.

6 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

7 Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse!
how much better is thy love than wine!
and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!

(4.10) “How much better is thy love than wine!”

11 Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

(4.11) “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.”

12 A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

13
Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits
; camphire, with spikenard,

(4.13) “Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits.”

14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

15
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

(4.15) “A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.”

16 Awake, O north wind; and
come
, thou south;
blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

(4.16)
“Come … blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.”

(5.1-16)