by Septuagint
[8] The voice of my kinsman! behold, he comes leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
[9] My kinsman is like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Baethel: behold, he is behind our wall, looking through the windows, peeping through the lattices. [10] My kinsman answers, and says to me, Rise up, come, my companion, my fair one, my dove. [11] For, behold, the winter is past, the rain is gone, it has departed. [12] The flowers are seen in the land; the time of pruning has arrived; the voice of the turtle-dove has been heard in our land. [13] The fig-tree has put forth its young figs, the vines put forth the tender grape, they yield a smell: arise, come, my companion, my fair one, my dove; yea, come.
[14] Thou art my dove, in the shelter of the rock, near the wall: shew me thy face, and cause me to hear thy voice; for thy voice is sweet, and thy countenance is beautiful.
[15] Take us the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines put forth tender grapes.
[16] My kinsman is mine, and I am his: he feeds his flock among the lilies.
[17] Until the day dawn, and the shadows depart, turn, my kinsman, be thou like to a roe or young hart on the mountains of the ravines.
Chapter 3
[1] By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he hearkened not to me. [2] I will rise now, and go about in the city, in the market-places, and in the streets, and I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not. [3] The watchmen who go their rounds in the city found me. I said, Have ye seen him whom my soul loves? [4] It was as a little while after I parted from them, that I found him whom my soul loves: I held him, and did not let him go, until I brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
[5] I have charged you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and by the virtues of the field, that ye rouse not nor awake my love, until he please.
[6] Who is this that comes up from the wilderness as pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the perfumer? [7] Behold Solomon’s bed; sixty mighty men of the mighty ones of Israel are round about it. [8] They all hold a sword, being expert in war: every man has his sword upon his thigh because of fear by night.
[9] King Solomon made himself a litter of woods of Lebanon. [10] He made the pillars of it silver, the bottom of it gold, the covering of it scarlet, in the midst of it a pavement of love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. [11] Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, 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.
Chapter 4
[1] Behold, thou art fair, my companion; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are doves, beside thy veil: thy hair is as flocks of goats, that have appeared from Galaad. [2] Thy teeth are as flocks of shorn sheep, that have gone up from the washing; all of them bearing twins, and there is not a barren one among them. [3] Thy lips are as a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: like the rind of a pomegranate is thy cheek without thy veil. [4] Thy neck is as the tower of David, that was built for an armoury: a thousand shields hang upon it, and all darts of mighty men. [5] Thy two breasts are as two twin fawns, that feed among the lilies. [6] Until the day dawn, and the shadows depart, I will betake me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. [7] Thou art all fair, my companion, and there is no spot in thee.
[8] Come from Libanus, my bride, come from Libanus: thou shalt come and pass from the top of Faith, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards. [9] My sister, my spouse, thou hast ravished my heart; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. [10] How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! how much more beautiful are thy breasts than wine, and the smell of thy garments than all spices! [11] Thy lips drop honeycomb, my spouse: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is as the smell of Libanus. [12] My sister, my spouse is a garden enclosed; a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed. [13] Thy shoots are a garden of pomegranates, with the fruit of choice berries; camphor, with spikenard: [14] spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon; with all woods of Libanus, myrrh, aloes, with all chief spices: [15] a fountain of a garden, and a well of water springing and gurgling from Libanus.
[16] Awake, O north wind; and come, O south; and blow through my garden, and let my spices flow out.
Chapter 5
[1] Let my kinsman come down into his garden, and eat the fruit of his choice berries. I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spices; I have eaten my bread with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; yea, brethren, drink abundantly.
[2] I sleep, but my heart is awake: the voice of my kinsman knocks at the door, saying, Open, open to me, my companion, my sister, my dove, my perfect one: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. [3] I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them? [4] My kinsman put forth his hand by the hole of the door, and my belly moved for him. [5] I rose up to open to my kinsman; my hands dropped myrrh, my fingers choice myrrh, on the handles of the lock. [6] I opened to my kinsman; my kinsman was gone: my soul failed at his speech: I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he answered me not. [7] The watchman that go their rounds in the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. [8] I have charged you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and the virtues of the field: if ye should find my kinsman, what are ye to say to him? That I am wounded with love.
[9] What is thy kinsman more than another kinsman, O thou beautiful among women? what is thy kinsman more than another kinsman, that thou hast so charged us? [10] My kinsman is white and ruddy, chosen out from myriads. [11] His head is as very fine gold, his locks are flowing, black as a raven. [12] His eyes are as doves, by the pools of waters, washed with milk, sitting by the pools. [13] His cheeks are as bowls of spices pouring forth perfumes: his lips are lilies, dropping choice myrrh. [14] His hands are as turned gold set with beryl: his belly is an ivory tablet on a sapphire stone. [15] His legs are marble pillars set on golden sockets: his form is as Libanus, choice as the cedars. [16] His throat is most sweet, and altogether desirable. This is my kinsman, and this is my companion, O daughters of Jerusalem.
[17] Whither is thy kinsman gone, thou beautiful among women? whither has thy kinsman turned aside? tell us, and we will seek him with thee.
Chapter 6
[1] My kinsman is gone down to his garden, to the beds of spice, to feed his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies. [2] I am my kinsman’s, and my kinsman is mine, who feeds among the lilies.
[3] Thou art fair, my companion, as Pleasure, beautiful as Jerusalem, terrible as armies set in array. [4] Turn away thine eyes from before me, for they have ravished me: thy hair is as flocks of goats which have appeared from Galaad. [5] Thy teeth are as flocks of shorn sheep, that have gone up from the washing, all of them bearing twins, and there is none barren among them: thy lips are as a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely. [6] Thy cheek is like the rind of a pomegranate, being seen without thy veil. [7] There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens without number. [8] My dove, my perfect one is one; she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and the queens will pronounce her blessed, yea, and the concubines, and they will praise her. [9] Who is this that looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, choice as the sun, terrible as armies set in array?
[10] I went down to the garden of nuts, to look at the fruits of the valley, to see if the vine flowered, if the pomegranates blossomed. [11] There I will give thee my breasts: my soul knew it not: it made me as the chariots of Aminadab.
[12] Return, return, O Sunamite; return, return, and we will look at thee. What will ye see in the Sunamite? She comes as bands of armies.
Chapter 7
[1] Thy steps are beautiful in shoes, O daughter of the prince: the joints of thy thighs are like chains, the work of the craftsman. [2] Thy navel is as a turned bowl, not wanting liquor; thy belly is as a heap of wheat set about with lilies. [3] Thy two breasts are as two twin fawns. [4] Thy neck is as an ivory tower; thine eyes are as pools in Esebon, by the gates of the daughter of many: thy nose is as the tower of Libanus, looking toward Damascus. [5] Thy head upon thee is as Carmel, and the curls of thy hair like scarlet; the king is bound in the galleries. [6] How beautiful art thou, and how sweet art thou, my love! [7] This is thy greatness in thy delights: thou wast made like a palm tree, and thy breasts to cluster. [8] I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its high boughs: and now shall thy breasts be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose of apples; [9] and thy throat as good wine, going well with my kinsman, suiting my lips and teeth.
[10] I am my kinsman’s, and his desire is toward me. [11] Come, my kinsman, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. [12] Let us go early into the vineyards; let us see if the vine has flowered, if the blossoms have appeared, if the pomegranates have blossomed; there will I give thee my breasts. [13] The mandrakes have given a smell, and at our doors are all kinds of choice fruits, new and old. O my kinsman, I have kept them for thee.
Chapter 8
[1] I would that thou, O my kinsman, wert he that sucked the breasts of my mother; when I found thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, they should not despise me. [2] I would take thee, I would bring thee into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me; I would make thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranates.
[3] His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.
[4] I have charged you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the virtues of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.
[5] Who is this that comes up all white, leaning on her kinsman? I raised thee up under an apple-tree; there thy mother brought thee forth; there she that bore thee brought thee forth.
[6] Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave, her shafts are shafts of fire, even the flames thereof.
[7] Much water will not be able to quench love, and rivers shall not drown it; if a man would give all his substance for love, men would utterly despise it.
[8] Our sister is little, and has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister, in the day wherein she shall be spoken for? [9] If she is a wall, let us build upon her silver bulwarks; and if she is a door, let us carve for her cedar panels. [10] I am a wall, and my breasts are as towers; I was in their eyes as one that found peace. [11] Solomon had a vineyard in Beelamon; he let his vineyard to keepers; every one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. [12] My vineyard, even mine, is before me; Solomon shall have a thousand, and they that keep its fruit two hundred.
[13] Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: make me hear it.
[14] Away, my kinsman, and be like a doe or a fawn on the mountains of spices.
Wisdom of Solomon
Chapter 1
[1] Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth: think of the Lord with a good (heart,) and in simplicity of heart seek him. [2] For he will be found of them that tempt him not; and sheweth himself unto such as do not distrust him. [3] For froward thoughts separate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise.
[4] For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter; nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin. [5] For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding, and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in.
[6] For wisdom is a loving spirit; and will not acquit a blasphemer of his words: for God is witness of his reins, and a true beholder of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue. [7] For the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world: and that which containeth all things hath knowledge of the voice.
[8] Therefore he that speaketh unrighteous things cannot be hid: neither shall vengeance, when it punisheth, pass by him. [9] For inquisition shall be made into the counsels of the ungodly: and the sound of his words shall come unto the Lord for the manifestation of his wicked deeds. [10] For the ear of jealousy heareth all things: and the noise of murmurings is not hid.
[11] Therefore beware of murmuring, which is unprofitable; and refrain your tongue from backbiting: for there is no word so secret, that shall go for nought: and the mouth that belieth slayeth the soul.
[12] Seek not death in the error of your life: and pull not upon yourselves destruction with the works of your hands. [13] For God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. [14] For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth: [15] (For righteousness is immortal:) [16] But ungodly men with their works and words called it to them: for when they thought to have it their friend, they consumed to nought, and made a covenant with it, because they are worthy to take part with it.
Chapter 2
[1] For the ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright, Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave. [2] For we are born at all adventure: and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been: for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart: [3] Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air, [4] And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof.
[5] For our time is a very shadow that passeth away; and after our end there is no returning: for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again.
[6] Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth. [7] Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us: [8] Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered: [9] Let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness: let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place: for this is our portion, and our lot is this.
[10] Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged. [11] Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.
[12] Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth us with our offending the law, and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our education. [13] He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord. [14] He was made to reprove our thoughts. [15] He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men’s, his ways are of another fashion. [16] We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness: he pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed, and maketh his boast that God is his father.
[17] Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him. [18] For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies. [19] Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience. [20] Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.
[21] Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness hath blinded them. [22] As for the mysteries of God, they knew them not: neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness, nor discerned a reward for blameless souls.
[23] For
God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. [24] Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
Chapter 3
[1] But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. [2] In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, [3] And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. [4] For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality.
[5] And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. [6] As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering.
[7] And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. [8] They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. [9] They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect. [10] But the ungodly shall be punished according to their own imaginations, which have neglected the righteous, and forsaken the Lord.
[11] For whoso despiseth wisdom and nurture, he is miserable, and their hope is vain, their labours unfruitful, and their works unprofitable: [12] Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked:
[13] Their offspring is cursed. Wherefore blessed is the barren that is undefiled, which hath not known the sinful bed: she shall have fruit in the visitation of souls.
[14] And blessed is the eunuch, which with his hands hath wrought no iniquity, nor imagined wicked things against God: for unto him shall be given the special gift of faith, and an inheritance in the temple of the Lord more acceptable to his mind. [15] For glorious is the fruit of good labours: and the root of wisdom shall never fall away.