Song of Solomon (DSS)
Song of Solomon Dead Sea Scrolls
4Q106 Canticlesa (Song of Solomon)
Language: Hebrew
Date: 30 B.C - 68 A.D.
Location: Qumran Cave 4
Contents: Song of Solomon 3:3-5, 7-11; 4:1-7 (omitting 4:8-6:10); 6:11-13; 7:1-6 (Hebrew 6:11-12; 7:1-7)
Song of Solomon 3
3 The watchmen who go about the city found me;
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 I had scarcely passed from them,
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go,
until I had brought him into my mother’s house,
into the room of her who conceived me.
5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
by the roes, or by the hinds of the field,
that you not stir up, nor awaken love,
until it so desires.
[..]
7 Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage!
Sixty mighty men are around it,
of the mighty men of Israel.
8 They all handle the sword, and are expert in war.
Every man has his sword on his thigh,
because of fear in the night.
9 King Solomon made himself a carriage
of the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its pillars of silver,
its bottom of gold, its seat of purple,
the middle of it being paved with love,
from the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, you daughters of Zion Jerusalem, and see king Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother has crowned him,
in the day of his weddings,
and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
Song of Solomon 4
Lover
1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love.
Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is as a flock of goats[1],
that descend from Mount Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock,
which have come up from the washing,
where every one of them has twins.
None is bereaved among them.
3 Your lips are like scarlet thread.
Your mouth is lovely.
Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
4 Your neck is like David’s tower built for an armory,
whereon a thousand shields hang,
all the shields of the mighty men.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns
that are twins of a roe,
which feed among the lilies.
6 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away,
I will go to the mountain of myrrh,
And to the hill of frankincense.
7 You are all beautiful, my love.
There is no spot in you. [2]
Song of Solomon 6
11 I went down into the nut tree grove,
to see the green plants of the valley,
to see whether the vine budded,
and the pomegranates were in flower.
12 Without realizing it,
my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots.
Friends
13 Return, return, Shulammite!
Return, return, that we may gaze at you.
Lover
Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite,
as at the dance of Mahanaim?
Song of Solomon 7
1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals, prince’s daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of the hands of a skillful workman.
2 Your body is like a round goblet,
no mixed wine is wanting.
Your waist is like a heap of wheat,
set about with lilies.
3 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
that are twins of a roe.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head on you is like Carmel.
The hair of your head like purple.
The king is held captive in its tresses.
6 How beautiful, and how pleasant you are,
love, for delights!
[1] On this verse and verse 2, the scroll uses a different word order than the MT.
[2] At this point the scroll continues unbroken, but the canonical text from 4:8 to 6:10 is not in the scroll.
4Q107 Canticlesb
Language: Hebrew
Date: Before 30 B.C - 68 A.D.
Location: Qumran Cave 49
Contents: Song of Solomon 2:9-3:2; 3:5 (excludes 3:6-8) 9-11; 4:1-3 (excludes 4:4-7) 8-11, 14-16; 5:1
Song of Solomon 2
9 My beloved is like a roe or a young deer.
Behold, he stands behind our wall!
He looks in at the windows.
He glances through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke, and said to me,
“Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
11 For, behold, the winter is past.
The rain is over and gone.
12 Behold the time the flowers appear on the earth.
The time of the singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
13 Behold, the fig tree ripens her green figs.
The vines are in blossom.
They give out their fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.”
Lover
14 My dove in the clefts of the rock,
In the hiding places of the mountainside,
Let me see your face.
Let me hear your voice[1];
for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
15 Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes that plunder the vineyards;
for our vineyards are in blossom.
Beloved
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his.
He browses among the lilies.
17 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away,
turn, my beloved,
and be like a roe or a young deer on the mountains of Bether.
Song of Solomon 3
1 By night, every night on my bed,
I sought him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
2 I will get up now, and go about the city;
in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
[..]
5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
by the roes, or by the hinds of the field,
that you not stir up, nor awaken love,
until it so desires.[2]
9 King Solomon made himself a carriage
of the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its pillars of silver,
its bottom of gold, its seat of purple,
the middle of it being paved with love,
from the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother has crowned him,
in the day of his weddings,
in the day of the gladness of his heart.
Song of Solomon 4
Lover
1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love.
Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is as a flock of goats,
that descend from Mount Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock,
which have come up from the washing,
where every one of them has twins.
None is bereaved among them.
3 Your lips are like scarlet thread.
Your mouth is lovely.
Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.[3]
8 You Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
You come with me from Lebanon.
Look from the top of Amana Omnon,
from the top of Senir and Hermon,
from the lions’ dens,
from the mountains of the leopards.
9 You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride.
You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes,
with one chain of your neck.
10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine!
The fragrance of your perfumes perfume than all kinds of spices!
11 Your lips, my sister, my bride, drip like the honeycomb.
Honey and milk are under your tongue.
The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
[..]
14 spikenard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree;
myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,
15 a fountain of gardens,
a well of living waters,
flowing streams from Lebanon.
Beloved
16 Awake, north wind; and come, you south!
Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden,
and taste his precious fruits.
Song of Solomon 5
Lover
1 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride.
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
Friends
Eat, friends!
Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.
[1] In this phrase the scroll uses a different word for voice than the MT, but in the next phrase it uses the same word, with a different spelling.
[2] The scroll moves from 3:5 to 3:9, excluding verses 6-8.
[3] The scroll moves from 4:3 to 4:8, excluding verses 4-7.
4Q108 Canticlesc (Song of Solomon)
Language: Hebrew
Date: 30 B.C. - 68 A.D.
Location: Qumran Cave 4
Contents: Song of Solomon 3:7-8
Song of Solomon 3
7 Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage!
Sixty mighty men are around it,
of the mighty men of Israel.
8 They all handle the sword, and are expert in war.
Every man has his sword on his thigh,
because of fear in the night.
6Q6 Canticles (Song of Solomon)
Language: Hebrew
Date: About 50 A.D.
Location: Qumran Cave 6
Contents: Song of Solomon 1:1-7
Song of Solomon 1
1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
Beloved
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth;
for your love is better than wine.
3 Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. The fragrance of oils is pleasant.
Your name is oil poured out,
therefore the virgins love you.
4 Take me away with you.
Let us hurry.
The king has brought me into his rooms.
Friends
We will be glad and rejoice rejoice and be glad in you.
We will praise your love more than wine!
Beloved
They are right to love you. How right are your loved ones.
5 I am dark, but lovely,
you daughters of Jerusalem,
like Kedar’s tents,
like Solomon’s curtains.
6 Don’t stare at me because I am dark,
because the sun has scorched me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me.
They made me keeper of the vineyards.
I haven’t kept my own vineyard.
7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you graze your flock,
where you rest them at noon;
For why should I be as one who is veiled
beside the flocks of your companions?