The Song of Songs which is of Solomon - Part II

Continuing with the Song of Songs ... Part II begins at Song 2:8.  Part I is here.

As a rule, I am trying to be concordant. I certainly wasn't on my first pass 2 years ago. It is not always possible but I think it is generally desirable especially where theme or frame must be heard or seen. Concordance is a matter of training the ear and memory. There is no shortcut for every day practice. My performing children learned to love and persevere in the practice of music. So also must one who wishes to learn.

I am publishing these as I do them. This may result in my having to revise a prior decision. Feedback is welcome.

Rabbi Akiva (c100 CE) warns that we should not see the Song simply as entertainment. Whoever warbles the Song of Songs at banqueting houses, treating it like an ordinary song, has no portion in the world to come. (Tos. San. 12:10)

We see from his record in the Talmud that he had a very high regard for this text. The entire world is unworthy of the day that the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all of Scripture is holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies. (M. Yad 3:5)


Christendom agrees with the rabbinic joy in the Song. Palestrina's mass based on the Sicut Lilium cantus firmus recognizes the identity and the costly role of the Bridegroom. Here is a remarkable clip.  Good pulse - some slight forgivable tuning problems.

Again to read on, we must take on the persona of the daughters of Jerusalem and we are sworn by a hidden name not to rouse love till it please.

Verse	Hebrew text	A translation	What shall we say?
ח	קוֹל דּוֹדִי הִנֵּה זֶה בָּא מְדַלֵּג עַל הֶהָרִים מְקַפֵּץ עַל הַגְּבָעוֹת	The voice of my beloved behold, there, coming, leaping over the mountains skipping over the hillocks	The anticipation is palpable. These short sharp lines are not prose. Hark! is a nice rendering of קוֹל - but loses concordance with the remaining 5 uses of the word to come which must be translated as voice.
ט	דּוֹמֶה דוֹדִי לִצְבִי אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים הִנֵּה זֶה עוֹמֵד אַחַר כָּתְלֵנוּ מַשְׁגִּיחַ מִן הַחַלֹּנוֹת מֵצִיץ מִן הַחֲרַכִּים	My beloved is like a roe or the young of the goodly hart Behold there standing behind our wall looking through the windows gazing through the lattice	Again, the roe צבי is like host צבא (plural צִבְאֹות). The hart plural הָאַיָּלִים is like God אֱלֹהִים. So whenever you see roe or hart, think. It is not unreasonable or improbable to accept the invitation to identify with the bride and consider this song as an image and parable of the enveloping love of the Most High.
י	עָנָה דוֹדִי וְאָמַר לִי קוּמִי לָךְ רַעְיָתִי יָפָתִי וּלְכִי לָךְ	My beloved answered and said to me: rise up! Yours, my companion my beautiful one, and come away- it is yours	What will we do with לָךְ this time? This too has been set to music. E.g. this among many recordings of the Purcell. The version by Patrick Hadley I cannot find online. (Spake is lovely, spoke is mundane, I will go with answered - more engaging.)
יא	כִּי הִנֵּה הַסְּתָו עָבָר הַגֶּשֶׁם חָלַף הָלַךְ לוֹ	For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over it is gone	I can't help thinking of Isaiah 40:1.
יב	הַנִּצָּנִים נִרְאוּ בָאָרֶץ עֵת הַזָּמִיר הִגִּיעַ וְקוֹל הַתּוֹר נִשְׁמַע בְּאַרְצֵנוּ	The flowers have appeared in the land the time of the singing approaches and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land	Earth /land appears only here in the text. Is there a distinction between 'the' and 'our' such that we could translate ארץ with different words? The gloss of approaches for נגע is equally difficult. I did not use 'come' since there is a much more common word for that and it is already used in this section.
יג	הַתְּאֵנָה חָנְטָה פַגֶּיהָ וְהַגְּפָנִים סְמָדַר נָתְנוּ רֵיחַ קוּמִי לָךְ רַעְיָתִי   יָפָתִי וּלְכִי לָךְ ס	The fig tree enspices its early fruit and the vines' tender buds give a smell rise up! Yours, my companion, my beautiful one, and come away- it is yours	Always read carefully the text that is between repeated words. What about your earth? your land? Are there flowers there? לָךְ occurs so often - literally 'to you' (as full of possible meaning as the heading of a psalm.)
יד	יוֹנָתִי בְּחַגְוֵי הַסֶּלַע בְּסֵתֶר הַמַּדְרֵגָה הַרְאִינִי אֶת מַרְאַיִךְ   הַשְׁמִיעִנִי אֶת קוֹלֵךְ כִּי קוֹלֵךְ עָרֵב וּמַרְאֵיךְ נָאוֶה ס	My dove, in the clefts of the rock in the secret steep place Let me see your form let me hear your voice for your voice is sweet and your form is lovely	Rock (selah) reflects the samech above and anticipates the samech below - I think of it as instruction to pause. Note the a-b-b-a form of the last four word-groups of this verse 'lovely' is the same word as in Song 1:5, 4:3, 6:4
טו	אֶחֱזוּ לָנוּ שֻׁעָלִים שֻׁעָלִים קְטַנִּים   מְחַבְּלִים כְּרָמִים וּכְרָמֵינוּ סְמָדַר	Catch for us the foxes the little foxes spoiling the vines for our vines bud tenderly	while there is no definitive in the text, 'our vineyards' is sufficiently definite to retroject its tone back to the original command. Foxes are a nuisance. This verse was my tag line on my email for years prior to 2003.  See this post for the foxes.
טז	דּוֹדִי לִי וַאֲנִי לוֹ הָרֹעֶה בַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים	My beloved is mine, and I am his the grazer among the lilies	ל gets lots of usage with pronouns in this section
יז	עַד שֶׁיָּפוּחַ הַיּוֹם וְנָסוּ הַצְּלָלִים סֹב דְּמֵה לְךָ דוֹדִי  לִצְבִי אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים עַל הָרֵי בָתֶר ס	until the dawning day when the shadows flee encircle, and you be my love, like the roe or the young goodly hart on the mountain cleft	סבב is used of troops encircling a city and does not mean turn in the way this might be taken metaphorically (as in שׁוּב which is used only in Song 6:13.)
3 א	עַל מִשְׁכָּבִי בַּלֵּילוֹת בִּקַּשְׁתִּי אֵת שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי  בִּקַּשְׁתִּיו וְלֹא מְצָאתִיו	On my bed in the nights I sought the one who is the love of my being I sought him and did not find him	This phrase 'that is the love of my being' might have been taken for granted in Song 1:7 but must be faced here where it repeated in four consecutive verses.
ב	אָקוּמָה נָּא וַאֲסוֹבְבָה בָעִיר בַּשְּׁוָקִים וּבָרְחֹבוֹת אֲבַקְשָׁה אֵת שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי בִּקַּשְׁתִּיו וְלֹא מְצָאתִיו	I will rise now and circle around the city in the streets and in the plazas I will seek the one who is the love of my being I sought him and did not find him	I have avoided the use of that lovely word soul because I am not a dualist. What applies to the soul applies to the body, the earth of which we are made, our dust, our land. I don't write this way out of imagination. We will find both cost and comfort in this book that has been called the Holy of Holies of the Scripture.
ג	מְצָאוּנִי הַשֹּׁמְרִים הַסֹּבְבִים בָּעִיר אֵת שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי רְאִיתֶם	The keepers found me circling around the city  the one who is the love of my being... Did you see him?	Now you hear why I did not use 'turn' above but encircle for the same word appears here and must be deliberate.
ד	כִּמְעַט שֶׁעָבַרְתִּי מֵהֶם עַד שֶׁמָּצָאתִי אֵת שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי אֲחַזְתִּיו וְלֹא אַרְפֶּנּוּ   עַד שֶׁהֲבֵיאתִיו אֶל בֵּית אִמִּי וְאֶל חֶדֶר הוֹרָתִי	Scarcely had I passed from them when I found the one who is the love of my being I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him to my mother's house and to the room of her conceiving of me	Tenacity and determination is required. A somewhat random thought: the commandment of Genesis 2:24 is not obeyed in some traditions. Rather the woman is brought to the man's family. It has set me thinking recently. But I digress.
ה	הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם בִּצְבָאוֹת אוֹ בְּאַיְלוֹת הַשָּׂדֶה אִם תָּעִירוּ וְאִם תְּעוֹרְרוּ אֶת הָאַהֲבָה עַד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּץ ס	I have charged You, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the hosts of roe or by the goodly hart of the field, if you arouse or if you rouse this love till it please	The play on words in the Hebrew I have rendered in the English: the Lord of hosts is present in the text in the names of the animals. This refrain occurs 4 times. It seems that the song divides thus in five parts.  Of course you can take this as a negative admonition but it contains no negative. The Samech is for Selah about which no one quite knows either.

This series on the Song I | 2:4 II 3:5 | III | 5:10 IV 8:4 V

The Song of Songs which is of Solomon - Part I

1 א

שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים אֲשֶׁר לִשְׁלֹמֹה

The Song of Songs which is of Solomon
Update 2014 Music begins here.
What is it that we can know of Songs that this is the best? There are 30 songs in the Psalter. (Psalms 30, 45, 46, 48, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 76, 83, 87, 88, 92, 108, and the Psalms of Ascent 120-134) And there are others in the Scripture - like The Song of the Sea Exodus 15:1, or of Deborah and Barak in Judges 5:1 or of David in 2 Samuel 22:1 (= Psalm 18 - not named as a song!) This article by Chris Brady at Targuman lists the top ten from the Targum on the Song.  It is an intriguing list because it reveals how the compiler of the Targum read the Scripture as a whole. Chris Brady's article is very worth reading. (Midrash etc is also posting on the Song. Adam Couturier posting on Heschel is also worth noting in this respect.)

Why then is this the best? And how can we approach the text? Perhaps before starting, we should read all these other songs and see everywhere in Scripture where singing implies a song. Let's read every song. But we can't do it all at once so let the best be first. I am going to also mark the prefixes and suffixes. It forces me to read more slowly and see every particle.

See my 24 posts here for the 11 letters that form particles and affixes of grammatical significance.

There are three actors in this piece - the girl, the boy and the chorus. Imagine who the speaker is - it sometimes switches mid verse. And imagine to whom the speaker is addressing each word. The poet switches person like the psalmist does -e.g. verse 1 immediately. Like the psalms, it is possible to read the poem as prayer also. 

Verse	Hebrew text	A translation	What shall we say?
ב	יִשָּׁקֵנִי מִנְּשִׁיקוֹת פִּיהוּ כִּי טוֹבִים דֹּדֶיךָ מִיָּיִן	Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for good are your loves compared to wine	Perhaps in the spirit of the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, we should read the charge of Song 2:7 first. This charge ends four of the five parts of the Song. To read on, we must take on the persona of the daughters of Jerusalem and we are sworn by a hidden name not to rouse love till it please.
ג	לְרֵיחַ שְׁמָנֶיךָ טוֹבִים שֶׁמֶן תּוּרַק שְׁמֶךָ עַל כֵּן עֲלָמוֹת אֲהֵבוּךָ	as for fragrance, your oils are pleasing. An oil poured out is your name. So therefore the maidens love you.	I am looking at each verse to divide it into twos and threes - though perhaps four will sometimes be found.This is a check against some rather bizarre translation I did on my first pass 2 years ago.
ד	מָשְׁכֵנִי אַחֲרֶיךָ נָּרוּצָה הֱבִיאַנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ חֲדָרָיו נָגִילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָה בָּךְ נַזְכִּירָה דֹדֶיךָ מִיַּיִן   מֵישָׁרִים אֲהֵבוּךָ	Draw me after you we will run. The king brought me into his rooms. We will rejoice and we will be glad in you we will remember your loves more than wine. The upright have loved you.	How can we punctuate that line? I like to play with that word 'draw' - but I suspect it is too much of a stretch to see it in the 'I will draw all to myself'. But Jesus is the Bridegroom so don't put it out of mind. It would not surprise me to find additional allusions to John. Rooms is plural (same word and form in 1 Chronicles 28:11) There are several differing words for beloved, love, and companion - I do not know yet how I will distinguish the sounds and tones of these words in English. For the verb אהב, I will use love as verb, but it also occurs as noun though only singular. For דוד, likely love as noun and beloved but if plural as here, then loves. Caresses or affections would work here but would lose connections that may be desirable to keep. Not love in the abstract, as if there were such a thing.
ה	שְׁחוֹרָה אֲנִי וְנָאוָה בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם כְּאָהֳלֵי קֵדָר כִּירִיעוֹת שְׁלֹמֹה	Black am I but lovely O daughters of Jerusalem like the tents of Kedar like the pavilions of Salmah	We will return to the place names. Place will be important in the overall scheme of things in a childish sort of a way.
ו	אַל תִּרְאוּנִי שֶׁאֲנִי שְׁחַרְחֹרֶת שֶׁשְּׁזָפַתְנִי הַשָּׁמֶשׁ בְּנֵי אִמִּי נִחֲרוּ בִי שָׂמֻנִי נֹטֵרָה אֶת הַכְּרָמִים   כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי לֹא נָטָרְתִּי	Do not stare at me that I am swarthy that the sun has scorched me. The sons of my mother were charred with me. They set me to mind the vineyards. My own vineyard I could not mind.	minding/keeping the vineyards - the word is also a frame in the poem occurring twice here and Song 8:11-12.'Set' שׂוּם may also be significant in this frame - Song 6:12, 8:6.
ז	הַגִּידָה לִּי שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי אֵיכָה תִרְעֶה אֵיכָה תַּרְבִּיץ בַּצָּהֳרָיִם שַׁלָּמָה אֶהְיֶה כְּעֹטְיָה עַל עֶדְרֵי חֲבֵרֶיךָ	Make clear to me you that are the love of my being O where will you graze? O where will you pasture at noon? for why I become as one herself enwrapped by the herds of your companions?	Here and in the next verse are two additional similarities to John's gospel. Teacher, where do you live? (John 1:38) חָבֵר fellow (this frame word occurs twice - once here and one at the end Song 8:13.) I look for repeated words and sounds to see if they play a framing or a thematic role in the text.
ח	אִם לֹא תֵדְעִי לָךְ הַיָּפָה בַּנָּשִׁים צְאִי לָךְ בְּעִקְבֵי הַצֹּאן וּרְעִי אֶת גְּדִיֹּתַיִךְ עַל מִשְׁכְּנוֹת הָרֹעִים	If you do not know for yourself O most beautiful among the women go for yourself in the footsteps of the flock and graze your kids by the shepherds' tents	Come and see. I think there is no possible way of seeing for yourself than doing this one commandment. Is it fair of me to translate לָךְ as for yourself? I hate to leave both of them out as the KJV does. There is an argument for ה in a vocative role here. At least vocative is the easiest way to express the definite in this verse.
ט	לְסֻסָתִי בְּרִכְבֵי פַרְעֹה דִּמִּיתִיךְ רַעְיָתִי	To my mare in the chariots of Pharaoh I have compared you, my companion	Is it one mare or my singular mare? רעיה companion (occurs 9 times) - it may indeed be a term of endearment but I cannot lose the distinction with דּוֹדִי a term used to pathetic effect by Dickens in his David Copperfield. It is curious how often רע occurs in several words here (graze, shepherd, Pharaoh, companion, green, and rouse/arouse, awaken, disturb). Maybe some day we can study pairs of letters.
י	נָאווּ לְחָיַיִךְ בַּתֹּרִים צַוָּארֵךְ בַּחֲרוּזִים	how lovely your cheeks in the circlets your neck with strings of beads	Here we have the first of many epithets of praise on both sides. They will morph into long descriptions of the endearments each finds in the other. There's a technical term for these but I forget it.
יא	תּוֹרֵי זָהָב נַעֲשֶׂה לָּךְ עִם נְקֻדּוֹת הַכָּסֶף	circlets of gold we will make for you with drops of the silver
יב	עַד שֶׁהַמֶּלֶךְ בִּמְסִבּוֹ נִרְדִּי נָתַן רֵיחוֹ	While the king is on his couch my spikenard gives its fragrance.	In these verses there are several definitives that are often not translated. I hate to leave things out that the poet has put in. I think there is talk of things that are definite from outside the context of the poem What would be an equivalent in English? I chose 'that' as if there is a shared memory - but then when I did the music, I changed my mind.
יג	צְרוֹר הַמֹּר דּוֹדִי לִי בֵּין שָׁדַי יָלִין	A pouch of the myrrh is my beloved to me between my breasts he will spend the night.
יד	אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר דּוֹדִי לִי בְּכַרְמֵי עֵין גֶּדִי ס	A cluster of camphire is my beloved to me in the vineyards of my goat's eye	Well perhaps it is the place Engedi -but it might be a joke (Camphire here and in Song 4:14 only - each to the other)
טו	הִנָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי הִנָּךְ יָפָה עֵינַיִךְ יוֹנִים	Look at you, beautiful, my companion look at you, beautiful your eyes are doves	Note the repetition of hinak and yapah
טז	הִנְּךָ יָפֶה דוֹדִי אַף נָעִים אַף עַרְשֵׂנוּ רַעֲנָנָה	Look at you, beautiful, my love indeed pleasant indeed our bed is green	those letters are here reversed also! It may be insignificant.
יז	קֹרוֹת בָּתֵּינוּ אֲרָזִים רַהִיטֵנוּ בְּרוֹתִים	the beams of our house are cedar our fretted ceilings are fir
2 א	אֲנִי חֲבַצֶּלֶת הַשָּׁרוֹן שׁוֹשַׁנַּת הָעֲמָקִים	I am the crocus of the plain the lily of the valleys
ב	כְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּה בֵּין הַחוֹחִים כֵּן רַעְיָתִי בֵּין הַבָּנוֹת	As a lily among the thorns so is my companion among the daughters	Are you happy being compared to a definite set of thorns
ג	כְּתַפּוּחַ בַּעֲצֵי הַיַּעַר כֵּן דּוֹדִי בֵּין הַבָּנִים בְּצִלּוֹ חִמַּדְתִּי וְיָשַׁבְתִּי וּפִרְיוֹ מָתוֹק לְחִכִּי	As an apricot tree among the trees of the wood so is my beloved among the sons in his shadow I delighted and I sat and his fruit was sweet to my taste	There are so many songs from these verses and those to come - here I remember Bairstow, I sat down.
ד	הֱבִיאַנִי אֶל בֵּית הַיָּיִן וְדִגְלוֹ עָלַי אַהֲבָה	He brought me to the wine house, and his banner over me was love	There is a children's song on this verse.
ה	סַמְּכוּנִי בָּאֲשִׁישׁוֹת רַפְּדוּנִי בַּתַּפּוּחִים כִּי חוֹלַת אַהֲבָה אָנִי	Support me with raisins, spread me out with apricots, for sick with love am I	The two dots are a placeholder and signify that I have nothing more to say here for the moment.
ו	שְׂמֹאלוֹ תַּחַת לְרֹאשִׁי וִימִינוֹ תְּחַבְּקֵנִי	His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.	A frame with Song 8:3
ז	הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם בִּצְבָאוֹת אוֹ בְּאַיְלוֹת הַשָּׂדֶה אִם תָּעִירוּ וְאִם תְּעוֹרְרוּ אֶת הָאַהֲבָה עַד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּץ ס	I charge You, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the hosts of roe or by the goodly hart of the field, if you arouse or if you rouse this love till it please	The play on words in the Hebrew I have rendered in the English: the Lord of hosts is present in the text in the names of the animals. This refrain occurs 4 times. It seems that the song divides thus in five parts.  Of course you can take this as a negative admonition but it contains no negative. The Samech is for Selah about which no one quite knows either.

[Update - PDF suitable for Bible study in English at these links  1,2,3,4,5]
This series on the Song I | 2:4 II 3:5 | III | 5:10 IV 8:4 V

Welcome

Such a dither! Where will I write. The other now bloated blogs are still all there and backed up. Some day I will have to move a sub-domain when I retire from my work or they decide that I must move. That's where there are a few hundred diagrams from earlier research.

I will begin this blog for the third time, with a new translation of the Song of Solomon. (And flowers - I still have to collate and collaborate on the Hawaii pictures and the spring is getting ahead of me!) I will also continue here my story-telling of Ruth. I think there is an emerging something or other but I want to explore some more of the 5 scrolls (Ruth, Lamentations, Song, Qohelet, and Esther) before trying to tell such a story. Anyway, following the 'Desire of all Nations' חֶמְדַּת כָּל־הַגֹּויִם is my task.  May we desire the good, whether singular or plural.

Daffodils

Well the daffs are lovely but I destroyed one bloom by trying to weed some crumulus vulgaris (possibly a leopard palm relation) from under it. This awful plant has been in the garden for ever but we allowed one to come to its full purple open flower last year and it exploded its kids all over the place. Some friend planted it! I disobeyed my Lord by not letting the weeds grow till the harvest - what an awful way of tending a garden (but softly, softly).

Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the even-song;
And, having pray'd together, we
Will go with you along.

Most misleading - Daffs last for weeks and just keep on coming. They bring smiles to me every day. In contrast, the fallen camelia lasted a very short time.

Some cool image technology

When you click on the link below, it produces a panoramic view of Vancouver from the air with 360 degree controls. http://www.aerialphotoimage.com/panoramas/GreaterVancouver/OlympicVillageVancouver.html

Our flowers are so advanced this year. So much to explore - but later. I have been too much writing on the other blogs to stop and smell the flowers.

A pair of Hibiscus

Is Hibiscus a fourth declension noun?  No. The Yellow Hibiscus is the State flower of Hawaii so I will start with a pair of related hibiscuses that were just outside our apartment.

Look at how happy these were to meet each other.2010-02-20

But a day later they are spent 2010-02-21

The flowers of the Olympic medal ceremonies

Article here explains the tradition behind the flower presentations at the Olympic Medal Ceremonies. (supplied by Just Beginnings Flowers).

I have a host of possible posts since Hawaii - enough for a few years! Our tulip trees today in Victoria are out in full bloom also. I will scarcely have a moment to spare if I take learning botany seriously.