Song of Solomon / Chapter 2

Song of Solomon 2

17 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Chapter 2 unfolds the spring of love. The woman identifies herself as a wildflower and the man as an apple tree offering shade and sweetness. She describes being brought to the banquet hall under the banner of love, then pleads for sustenance because she is 'sick with love.' The famous adjuration to the Daughters of Jerusalem ('Do not stir up love until it pleases') appears for the first time. The chapter's second half is the man's springtime invitation — 'Rise up, my darling, and come away' — one of the most celebrated love lyrics in world literature. The chapter closes with the woman's assertion of mutual possession and a brief scene of playful pursuit among the foxes and lilies.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

Verse 7 contains the Song's refrain — the adjuration by gazelles and wild does not to awaken love before its time. This oath is extraordinary: it swears not by God but by animals, specifically by the grace and wildness of the natural world. Love is treated as a force with its own timing, its own season, which cannot be forced or manufactured. The springtime passage (2:10-13) is the most sustained nature poetry in the Hebrew Bible, cataloguing the arrival of spring through blossoms, birdsong, fig ripening, and grapevine fragrance. The lovers' world is Eden restored — the garden before the fall, where desire and innocence coexist.

Translation Friction

The adjuration formula 'by the gazelles and by the does of the field' (bi-tseva'ot o be-aylot ha-sadeh) may contain a hidden divine name: tseva'ot echoes YHWH Tseva'ot ('LORD of Hosts'), and aylot echoes El ('God'). If so, the oath avoids speaking God's name directly while invoking it through animal doubles — a remarkable theological maneuver that keeps God present in the poem without making the poem 'about' God. The foxes in verse 15 ('Catch us the foxes, the little foxes') have generated endless allegorical interpretation, but the plain sense is likely a love-game: small threats to the vineyard (their love) must be chased away together.

Connections

The spring catalogue in 2:11-13 reverses the curse language of Genesis 3, where the ground produces thorns — here the earth produces flowers, fruit, and fragrance. The dove in the clefts of the rock (2:14) resonates with Jeremiah 48:28 and Obadiah 1:3. The gazelle imagery connects to 2 Samuel 2:18 (Asahel was 'swift as a gazelle') and to the broader ancient Near Eastern tradition of comparing lovers to swift, graceful animals.

Song of Solomon 2:1

אֲנִי֙ חֲבַצֶּ֣לֶת הַשָּׁר֔וֹן שׁוֹשַׁנַּ֖ת הָעֲמָקִֽים׃

I am a wildflower of the Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

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

Notes & Key Terms 2 terms

Key Terms

חֲבַצֶּלֶת chavatselet
"wildflower" — crocus, narcissus, meadow flower; an unidentified common blossom of the Sharon plain

The traditional 'Rose of Sharon' has no basis in the Hebrew — chavatselet is a bulb flower, not a rose. The Sharon plain was known for its wildflowers. She calls herself common, and he will immediately contradict her.

שׁוֹשַׁנָּה shoshannah
"lily" — lily, lotus; a generic term for a beautiful flower, possibly the white lotus or Lilium candidum

Shoshannah appears throughout the Song as the characteristic flower of the lovers' landscape. The word may be related to the number six (shesh), referring to the six petals of a lily.

Translator Notes

  1. Chavatselet is not a rose — the identity is uncertain, but likely a crocus, narcissus, or meadow saffron. We render it 'wildflower' to preserve the humility of the self-description without committing to a specific botanical identification. She calls herself common, and he will immediately contradict her.
Song of Solomon 2:2

כְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּ֖ה בֵּ֣ין הַחוֹחִ֑ים כֵּ֥ן רַעְיָתִ֖י בֵּ֥ין הַבָּנֽוֹת׃

Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the young women.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. He takes her modest self-description and transforms it: she may be a lily, but she is a lily among thorns. Every other woman is a thorn by comparison. His praise elevates her without contradicting her — she is indeed a lily, but the only lily.
Song of Solomon 2:3

כְּתַפּ֙וּחַ֙ בַּעֲצֵ֣י הַיַּ֔עַר כֵּ֥ן דּוֹדִ֖י בֵּ֣ין הַבָּנִ֑ים בְּצִלּוֹ֙ חִמַּ֣דְתִּי וְיָשַׁ֔בְתִּי וּפִרְי֖וֹ מָת֥וֹק לְחִכִּֽי׃

Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I have delighted to sit, and his fruit is sweet to my mouth.

KJV 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.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

תַּפּוּחַ tappuach
"apple tree" — apple, apricot; a fragrant fruit tree that provides shade and sweetness

The identification with the apple is traditional but uncertain — apricot or citron are also candidates. The point is clear: among sterile forest trees, he is the one that bears fruit.

Translator Notes

  1. She matches his compliment and raises it: he is a fruit tree among barren forest trees — he alone provides shade and sweetness. Sitting in his shade and tasting his fruit is erotic metaphor: his body shelters her and his love is delicious on her tongue.
  2. Chimadeti ('I delighted, I desired') shares a root with chemdah ('precious thing, desire'). Her sitting is not passive but eagerly chosen.
Song of Solomon 2:4

הֱבִיאַ֙נִי֙ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית הַיַּ֔יִן וְדִגְל֥וֹ עָלַ֖י אַהֲבָֽה׃

He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.

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

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

דִּגְלוֹ diglo
"his banner" — banner, standard, flag; a military or tribal ensign

The degel was the standard carried before an army or tribal division (Numbers 2:2). Here it is raised over the woman as a declaration of ownership through love, not force.

Translator Notes

  1. Bet ha-yayin ('house of wine') is literally a place where wine is consumed — a banquet hall. The diglo ('his banner, his standard') is a military term: armies marched under banners to identify their allegiance. His banner, raised over her, declares that she belongs to love — she is claimed, protected, and publicly identified as his.
Song of Solomon 2:5

סַמְּכ֙וּנִי֙ בָּאֲשִׁישׁ֔וֹת רַפְּד֖וּנִי בַּתַּפּוּחִ֑ים כִּי־חוֹלַ֥ת אַהֲבָ֖ה אָֽנִי׃

Sustain me with raisin cakes, revive me with apples — for I am sick with love!

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

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

חוֹלַת אַהֲבָה cholat ahavah
"sick with love" — lovesick, ill with desire; love experienced as bodily affliction

The phrase recurs in 5:8. Chalah ('to be weak, sick, ill') describes love as a condition that overtakes the body. The woman does not simply feel love — she is physically afflicted by it.

Translator Notes

  1. Ashishot are raisin cakes — dried fruit pressed into cakes, a delicacy and energy food (2 Samuel 6:19, Hosea 3:1). She is faint, overwhelmed, physically weakened by the intensity of desire. Cholat ahavah ('sick with love, lovesick') describes love as a physical condition — the body undone by longing.
Song of Solomon 2:6

שְׂמֹאלוֹ֙ תַּ֣חַת לְרֹאשִׁ֔י וִֽימִינ֖וֹ תְּחַבְּקֵֽנִי׃

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me —

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The posture described is that of lovemaking — he cradles her head with one hand and holds her body with the other. Two bodies intertwined, one supporting and enclosing the other. This exact verse recurs in 8:3, framing the entire Song with this image of physical union.
Song of Solomon 2:7

הִשְׁבַּ֨עְתִּי אֶתְכֶ֜ם בְּנ֤וֹת יְרוּשָׁלַ֙͏ִם֙ בִּצְבָא֔וֹת א֖וֹ בְּאַיְל֣וֹת הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה אִם־תָּעִ֧ירוּ ׀ וְאִם־תְּעֽוֹרְר֛וּ אֶת־הָאַהֲבָ֖ה עַ֥ד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּֽץ׃

I adjure you, Daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and the wild does — do not stir up, do not awaken love until it desires to arise!

KJV 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.

Notes & Key Terms 2 terms

Key Terms

צְבָאוֹת tseva'ot
"gazelles" — gazelles, female gazelles; also a homophone with 'hosts, armies' (as in YHWH Tseva'ot)

The double meaning is almost certainly deliberate. On the surface, the oath is by wild animals. Below the surface, the echo of YHWH Tseva'ot ('LORD of Hosts') gives the oath theological gravity.

אַהֲבָה ahavah
"love" — love, desire, affection; both the emotion and the act of loving

Ahavah is the Song's primary term for love — broader than dodim ('lovemaking') and more emotionally comprehensive. Here it is personified as a living force with its own will.

Translator Notes

  1. The oath by gazelles and does rather than by God is unique in the Hebrew Bible. The animals may serve as coded references to divine names (tseva'ot echoing YHWH Tseva'ot, aylot echoing El), allowing the oath to carry divine weight without pronouncing sacred names.
  2. The verb techpats ('it desires, it pleases') gives love its own agency — love awakens when love is ready, not when humans decide.
Song of Solomon 2:8

ק֣וֹל דּוֹדִ֔י הִנֵּה־זֶ֖ה בָּ֑א מְדַלֵּג֙ עַל־הֶ֣הָרִ֔ים מְקַפֵּ֖ץ עַל־הַגְּבָעֽוֹת׃

The voice of my beloved! Look — here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills!

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Qol dodi ('the voice of my beloved!') is an exclamation of recognition — she hears him before she sees him. The verbs medalleg ('leaping') and meqappets ('bounding, springing') describe an exuberant, almost superhuman approach. He does not walk — he leaps mountains.
Song of Solomon 2:9

דּוֹמֶ֤ה דוֹדִי֙ לִצְבִ֔י א֖וֹ לְעֹ֣פֶר הָאַיָּלִ֑ים הִנֵּה־זֶ֤ה עוֹמֵד֙ אַחַ֣ר כָּתְלֵ֔נוּ מַשְׁגִּ֙יחַ֙ מִן־הַחַלֹּנ֔וֹת מֵצִ֖יץ מִן־הַחֲרַכִּֽים׃

My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look — there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice!

KJV 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.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

צְבִי tsevi
"gazelle" — gazelle, roe deer; also 'beauty, glory, honor'

Tsevi means both 'gazelle' and 'beauty/glory' — the animal embodies the abstract quality. Comparing the man to a gazelle ascribes to him both physical grace and inherent splendor.

Translator Notes

  1. The comparison to a tsevi ('gazelle') and ofer ha-ayalim ('young stag') emphasizes speed, grace, and wild beauty. Then the scene shifts: he has arrived at her house and stands behind the wall, looking in. The verbs mashgiach ('gazing') and metsits ('peering') create an electric tension — he wants to see her, he searches for her through every opening.
Song of Solomon 2:10

עָנָ֥ה דוֹדִ֖י וְאָ֣מַר לִ֑י ק֥וּמִי לָ֛ךְ רַעְיָתִ֥י יָפָתִ֖י וּלְכִי־לָֽךְ׃

My beloved spoke and said to me: 'Arise, my darling, my beautiful one — come away!'

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Qumi lakh ('arise, go for yourself') echoes the lekh lekha ('go for yourself') spoken to Abraham in Genesis 12:1 — a call to leave the familiar and journey into promise. His invitation is not merely romantic but transformative.
Song of Solomon 2:11

כִּֽי־הִנֵּ֥ה הַסְּתָ֖ו עָבָ֑ר הַגֶּ֕שֶׁם חָלַ֖ף הָלַ֥ךְ לֽוֹ׃

For look — the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Ha-setav ('the winter') refers to the cold, rainy season in Palestine (roughly November through March). Chalaf halakh lo ('has passed, has gone away') uses two verbs of departure for emphasis — winter didn't merely end, it LEFT. The world is opening up.
Song of Solomon 2:12

הַנִּצָּנִים֙ נִרְא֣וּ בָאָ֔רֶץ עֵ֥ת הַזָּמִ֖יר הִגִּ֑יעַ וְק֥וֹל הַתּ֖וֹר נִשְׁמַ֥ע בְּאַרְצֵֽנוּ׃

The blossoms have appeared in the land, the season of singing has arrived, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

KJV 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;

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

זָמִיר zamir
"singing" — singing, pruning; the sound of birdsong or the act of trimming vines

The ambiguity is likely intentional — spring is simultaneously the season when birds sing and when vines are pruned. Both meanings reinforce the theme of renewed life.

Translator Notes

  1. Nitsanim ('blossoms, buds') signals spring's first visual evidence. Et ha-zamir is ambiguous: zamir can mean 'singing' or 'pruning' — both happen in spring. The tor ('turtledove') is a migratory bird whose return to Palestine in April marks the definitive arrival of spring.
Song of Solomon 2:13

הַתְּאֵנָה֙ חָֽנְטָ֣ה פַגֶּ֔יהָ וְהַגְּפָנִ֥ים ׀ סְמָדַ֖ר נָ֣תְנוּ רֵ֑יחַ ק֥וּמִי לָ֛ךְ רַעְיָתִ֥י יָפָתִ֖י וּלְכִי־לָֽךְ׃

The fig tree ripens its early fruit, and the grapevines in blossom give off fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one — come away!

KJV 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.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

סְמָדַר semadar
"blossom" — grape blossom, the flowering stage of the vine before fruit sets

Semadar appears only in the Song of Songs (2:13, 2:15, 7:13). It describes the brief, intensely fragrant flowering of the grapevine — a fleeting moment of extraordinary sweetness.

Translator Notes

  1. Chanetah paggeha ('ripens its early figs') — the pagim are the small, hard early figs that appear before the main crop. The grapevines are in semadar ('blossom') — the tiny flowers that precede the grapes, producing an intensely sweet fragrance. He repeats his invitation, now grounded in sensory evidence: the world is ripe, fragrant, ready.
Song of Solomon 2:14

יוֹנָתִ֞י בְּחַגְוֵ֣י הַסֶּ֗לַע בְּסֵ֙תֶר֙ הַמַּדְרֵגָ֔ה הַרְאִ֙ינִי֙ אֶת־מַרְאַ֔יִךְ הַשְׁמִיעִ֖נִי אֶת־קוֹלֵ֑ךְ כִּי־קוֹלֵ֥ךְ עָרֵ֖ב וּמַרְאֵ֥יךְ נָאוֶֽה׃

My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the cliff — let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.

KJV 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.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

יוֹנָתִי yonati
"my dove" — my dove; a term of endearment emphasizing gentleness, beauty, and vulnerability

The dove is the Song's primary bird image for the woman — gentle, pure, with soft cooing that suggests both innocence and intimacy.

Translator Notes

  1. He calls her yonati ('my dove') — doves nest in rocky crevices, shy and hidden. She is concealed and he coaxes her out: let me see, let me hear. The double request (sight and sound) matches the double praise: your voice is arev ('sweet') and your face is naveh ('lovely'). He wants the whole person — visible and audible.
Song of Solomon 2:15

אֶחֱזוּ־לָ֙נוּ֙ שׁוּעָלִ֔ים שׁוּעָלִ֥ים קְטַנִּ֖ים מְחַבְּלִ֣ים כְּרָמִ֑ים וּכְרָמֵ֖ינוּ סְמָדַֽר׃

Catch for us the foxes — the little foxes that ruin the vineyards — for our vineyards are in blossom!

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. This playful verse may be a snatch of a folk song or a love-game between the two. The shu'alim qetannim ('little foxes') are small predators that damage vineyards by digging at roots and eating young shoots. The keramim ('vineyards') carry the Song's usual double meaning — the literal vineyard and the lovers' relationship.
Song of Solomon 2:16

דּוֹדִ֥י לִי֙ וַאֲנִ֣י ל֔וֹ הָרֹעֶ֖ה בַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּֽים׃

My beloved is mine and I am his — he who grazes among the lilies.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Dodi li va-ani lo ('my beloved is mine and I am his') is the Song's most concise statement of mutual belonging. The possessive is symmetrical — neither owns the other more. He grazes ba-shoshannim ('among the lilies'), which is both pastoral and erotic. This formula recurs in 6:3 and 7:11, each time with a subtle shift in emphasis.
Song of Solomon 2:17

עַ֤ד שֶׁיָּפ֙וּחַ֙ הַיּ֔וֹם וְנָ֖סוּ הַצְּלָלִ֑ים סֹב֩ דְּמֵה־לְךָ֙ דוֹדִ֜י לִצְבִ֗י א֛וֹ לְעֹ֥פֶר הָאַיָּלִ֖ים עַל־הָרֵ֥י בָֽתֶר׃

Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved — be like a gazelle or a young stag on the cleft mountains.

KJV 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.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

בָתֶר vater
"cleft" — cleavage, division, cutting; cleft mountains or a place name

Beter may refer to a geographic location, but given the Song's persistent double meanings, 'mountains of cleavage' almost certainly carries an erotic dimension — the contours of her body as a landscape he traverses.

Translator Notes

  1. Ad she-yafuach ha-yom ('until the day breathes') is a poetic description of dawn — the moment when the first breeze stirs and darkness retreats. She invites him to be like a gazelle on the hare vater ('mountains of Bether/cleavage'). Beter means 'cutting, cleavage, division' — these may be literal mountains or a veiled reference to her own body's contours.
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