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The Beloved or The Bride, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, between 1865 and 1866

Old Testament · Book 22 of 66

Song of Solomon

The Song of Solomon is a book of love poems in eight chapters, in which a bride and her beloved speak in turn. Her friends answer them, and the song ends by calling love as strong as death.

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The Beloved or The Bride, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, between 1865 and 1866. Public domain.

The Beloved or The Bride, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, between 1865 and 1866

The Beloved or The Bride, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, between 1865 and 1866. Public domain.

What is the Song of Solomon about?

The Song of Songs is a book of love poems in eight chapters, spoken by a woman, the man she loves and the daughters of Jerusalem. It opens with her longing for the king and their praise of each other. Solomon's procession comes up from the wilderness, and he calls his bride a garden locked, which she opens to him. One night she is slow to open her door, he is gone, and she searches the city for him. It closes by naming love as strong as death. Its words for the two of them come three times, first at 2:16: “My beloved is mine and I am his.”

All 8 chapters

Every chapter of the book, in one grid. Each cell opens that chapter.

1Better than wine2The winter is past3Sought and found4A garden locked5Knocking at night6Beautiful as Tirzah7From feet to head8Love strong as death
  • The courtshipSong 1:1 to 3:5
  • The weddingSong 3:6 to 5:1
  • The search and the praiseSong 5:2 to 8:4
  • The sealSong 8:5 to 8:14

The colour is the movement the chapter stands in, and every cell opens that chapter's Study level. Three movements begin inside a chapter: the wedding at 3:6, the search and the praise at 5:2, and the seal at 8:5, so each of those chapters takes the colour of the movement that holds most of its verses.

Who wrote it, where, when, for whom, and why?

The book names itself Solomon's Song of Songs in its first verse (1:1), and it names Solomon again at 1:5, 3:7, 3:9, 3:11, 8:11 and 8:12. First Kings says that his songs numbered a thousand and five (1 Kings 4:32). The Hebrew of the title can mean by Solomon, for Solomon or about Solomon, and the book does not say who set the poem down; the question stands under the Hard Questions. No other book of Scripture names the Song.

Solomon composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

1 Kings 4:32, Berean Standard Bible.

The poem moves between Jerusalem, whose daughters it addresses (1:5), the king's chambers (1:4), the streets and squares of the city at night (3:2), and the countryside with its vineyards and fields (7:11 and 12). Its names run from Lebanon, Amana, Senir and Hermon in the north (4:8) through Gilead (4:1), Tirzah (6:4), Heshbon (7:4) and Carmel (7:5) to Sharon on the coast (2:1) and En-gedi by the Dead Sea (1:14).

The text gives no year. It sets its days by the seasons: the winter past and the rain over, the fig ripening and the vines in blossom (2:11 to 13), and the time to see whether the vines have budded (6:11, 7:12). The one day it names is Solomon's wedding day, when his mother crowned him (3:11), which places the procession in his reign.

Inside the poem the woman speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem, and they answer her twice (5:9, 6:1). The last verses call on the one who dwells in the gardens, whose companions are listening (8:13). The book names no reader outside the poem.

The Song states no purpose in so many words. What it says of love it says at 8:6 and 7: love is as strong as death, many waters cannot quench it, and all the wealth of a house cannot buy it. Three times the woman charges the daughters not to arouse love until the time is right (2:7, 3:5, 8:4).

Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.

Song of Solomon 8:7, Berean Standard Bible.

The poem's world is the court and the country together: a carriage of Lebanon timber with posts of silver and a base of gold (3:9 and 10), sixty warriors with swords at their sides (3:7 and 8), and sixty queens and eighty concubines (6:8); beside them are shepherds' tents, flocks, a walnut grove and mandrakes (1:8, 6:11, 7:13). Its spices come from far off: nard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, myrrh and aloes (4:14).

Sources. Song of Solomon 1:1, 1:4, 1:5, 1:8, 1:14, 2:1, 2:7, 2:11 to 13, 3:2, 3:5, 3:7 to 11, 4:1, 4:8, 4:14, 5:9, 6:1, 6:4, 6:8, 6:11, 7:4, 7:5, 7:11 to 13, 8:4, 8:6 and 7, 8:11 to 13; 1 Kings 4:32. Every verse is read in the Berean Standard Bible.

How is the Song arranged, and what is it for?

The four movements the poem falls into, then what it teaches and what it was given to do.

  1. The courtshipSong 1:1 to 3:5, 39 verses

    The woman longs for the king, the two praise each other, spring calls her out, and she searches for him at night.

    The turn, 2:16: The first time the two are said to belong to each other.

  2. The weddingSong 3:6 to 5:1, 23 verses

    Solomon's procession comes up from the wilderness, he praises his bride, and the locked garden is opened.

    The turn, 5:1: The garden entered and the friends told to eat and drink, the middle of the book.

  3. The search and the praiseSong 5:2 to 8:4, 45 verses

    She is slow to open, he is gone, the watchmen beat her, and in the search each praises the other again.

    The turn, 6:3: The belonging said again, turned round, once she knows where he has gone.

  4. The sealSong 8:5 to 8:14, 10 verses

    The two come up from the wilderness together, love is named as strong as death, and she calls him once more.

    The turn, 8:6: The one place the book says what love is.

The theme

The Song is about the love of one man and one woman: the longing before they are together, their delight in each other, the loss on the night she is slow to open, and a love that holds. It speaks of the body without shame and of desire as good, and it keeps the timing of love in the woman's charge to the daughters. It sings rather than argues, and its one statement about love stands at 8:6 and 7.

The purpose

Set among the books of wisdom beside Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, the Song teaches the worth of the love between a husband and a wife, the love Genesis 2:24 describes when the two become one flesh. Israel's teachers have also read it as the love of the LORD for Israel, and the church as the love of Christ for the church; the Hard Questions set out those readings with their holders.

Who speaks, verse by verse, across the eight chapters

  • The bride
  • The beloved
  • The others
  • Hatched: assigned by the editors
Every speech in order, with its voice and how it is assigned (40)
VersesVoiceWhat is saidAssigned by
1:2 to 1:4aThe brideLet him kiss methe text's grammar
1:4bThe othersWe will rejoice in youthe editors
1:5 to 1:7The brideDark, yet lovely; where do you pasture?the text's grammar
1:8The belovedFollow the tracks of the flockthe editors
1:9 to 1:10The belovedA mare among Pharaoh's chariotsthe text's grammar
1:11The othersWe will make you ornamentsthe editors
1:12 to 1:14The brideA sachet of myrrhthe text's grammar
1:15The belovedHow beautiful you arethe text's grammar
1:16 to 1:17The brideHow handsome you arethe text's grammar
2:1The brideA rose of Sharonthe editors
2:2The belovedA lily among the thornsthe text's grammar
2:3 to 2:13The brideThe apple tree; the winter is pastthe text's grammar
2:14The belovedMy dove in the clefts of the rockthe text's grammar
2:15The brideCatch the little foxesthe editors
2:16 to 3:5The brideMy beloved is mine; the first night searchthe text's grammar
3:6 to 3:11The othersSolomon's carriage comes upthe editors
4:1 to 4:15The belovedThe first song of her beauty; the garden lockedthe text's grammar
4:16The brideLet my beloved come into his gardenthe text's grammar
5:1aThe belovedI have come to my gardenthe text's grammar
5:1bThe othersEat, O friends, and drinkthe editors
5:2 to 5:8The brideThe knock, and the second night searchthe text's grammar
5:9The othersHow is your beloved better?the text's grammar
5:10 to 5:16The brideHer song of himthe text's grammar
6:1The othersWhere has your beloved gone?the text's grammar
6:2 to 6:3The brideGone down to his gardenthe text's grammar
6:4 to 6:9The belovedBeautiful as Tirzah; my dove is uniquethe text's grammar
6:10The othersWho is this who shines like the dawn?the editors
6:11 to 6:12The brideDown to the walnut grovethe editors
6:13aThe othersCome back, O Shulammitethe text's grammar
6:13bThe brideWhy do you look at the Shulammite?the editors
7:1 to 7:9aThe belovedThe song from her feet to her headthe editors
7:9b to 7:13The brideLet us go to the vineyardsthe text's grammar
8:1 to 8:4The brideO that you were like a brotherthe text's grammar
8:5aThe othersWho is this coming up?the editors
8:5b to 8:7The brideSet me as a seal over your heartthe text's grammar
8:8 to 8:9The othersWe have a little sisterthe text's grammar
8:10The brideI am a wallthe text's grammar
8:11 to 8:12The brideSolomon's vineyard and my ownthe editors
8:13The belovedLet me hear your voicethe text's grammar
8:14The brideCome away, my belovedthe text's grammar
Read each track from left to right, from 1:2 to 8:14; the numbers under the tracks are the chapters. A solid bar is a speech the Hebrew settles by its own forms, a woman addressed as my darling or a man as my beloved, or the plural of the daughters; a hatched bar is a speech the Hebrew leaves open, placed by the editors of the translations, who differ there. Of 40 speeches, 27 are settled by the text's grammar. The bride speaks first and last and speaks the most: the bride 65 verses, the beloved 37 verses, the others 14 verses. The three refrains stand under the tracks where they fall. Sources: Song of Solomon 1:1 to 8:14 in the Berean Standard Bible, read with the gender and number of the Hebrew forms.

The courtship, Song 1:1 to 3:5

What the text says across these 2 chapters, and the pages they open on.

The book opens with the woman's longing for the king, whose love she calls better than wine. She tells the daughters of Jerusalem that she is dark because her brothers set her to keep the vineyards in the sun, and she asks the man where he pastures his flock. The two praise each other in turn, she a lily among thorns and he an apple tree among the trees of the forest. In chapter 2 he comes over the hills and calls her out, because the winter is past. The movement ends with her search through the city at night, the watchmen, the finding, and her first charge to the daughters (3:1 to 5).

My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.
Song of Solomon 2:16, Berean Standard Bible. The first time the two are said to belong to each other, the words that return at 6:3 and 7:10.
  • Song of Solomon 1her longing, her dark skin, and praise in turnShow summary, 4 pages

    The woman longs for the king whose love is better than wine, and she tells the daughters of Jerusalem she is dark from keeping her brothers' vineyards. The two then praise each other in turn.

    • She asks where he pastures his flock and is told to follow the tracks of the flock (1:7 and 8).
    • He compares her to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots (1:9).
    • She calls him a sachet of myrrh and a cluster of henna from En-gedi (1:13 and 14).

    On this chapter (4)

    Read Song of Solomon 1 verse by verse

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  • Song of Solomon 2the rose of Sharon and the call of springShow summary, 2 pages

    She is a lily among thorns and he an apple tree among the trees of the forest, and she charges the daughters not to arouse love until the time is right. He comes over the hills and calls her out, because the winter is past.

    • His banner over her is love (2:4).
    • The fig ripens and the vines blossom as he calls (2:11 to 13).
    • The chapter ends with the two belonging to each other (2:16).

    On this chapter (2)

    Read Song of Solomon 2 verse by verse

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The vineyard and the garden, from her brothers' vineyard to her own

  1. 1vineyard1:6

    Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.

    Her own vineyard, neglected while she kept her brothers'.

  2. 2vineyard1:14

    My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.

    He is henna blossom in the vineyards of En-gedi.

  3. 3vineyard2:15

    Catch for us the foxes—the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—for our vineyards are in bloom.

    The little foxes spoil the vineyards in bloom.

  4. 4garden4:12

    My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.

    She is a garden locked, a spring enclosed.

  5. 5garden4:16

    Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Breathe on my garden and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choicest fruits.

    She opens the garden to him.

  6. 6garden6:2

    My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.

    He has gone down to his garden.

  7. 7garden6:11

    I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.

    Down to the walnut grove to see the vines.

  8. 8vineyard7:12

    Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my love.

    Early to the vineyards, where she gives her love.

  9. 9vineyard8:11 and 12

    Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He leased it to the tenants. For its fruit, each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver. But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

    Solomon's vineyard is let out; her own is hers to give.

Read from 1 to 9 along the line of the book. A round mark is a vineyard (5) and a square mark a garden (4). The vineyard she neglected at 1:6 becomes the woman herself as a garden at 4:12, locked and then opened, and at 8:12 her own vineyard is hers to give. Sources: Song of Solomon 1:6, 1:14, 2:15, 4:12, 4:16, 6:2, 6:11, 7:12, 8:11 and 12 in the Berean Standard Bible.

Characters (5)

Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.

  • The bride, the Shulammite

    She speaks first and last, and most of the book is hers; called the Shulammite at 6:13.

  • The beloved

    The man she loves, the king who brings her to his chambers (1:4).

  • The daughters of Jerusalem

    The women she speaks to, and three times charges not to arouse love (2:7).

  • Her brothers

    Her mother's sons, who set her to keep the vineyards (1:6).

Show the next 1
  • The watchmen

    The city's guards she meets on her first night search (3:3).

Places (4)

Where the chapters stand.

  • Jerusalem

    The home of the daughters she speaks to (1:5).

  • En-gedi

    The oasis by the Dead Sea whose vineyards bear henna (1:14).

  • Sharon

    The coastal plain of the rose she calls herself (2:1).

  • Kedar

    The desert tribe whose dark tents she compares herself to (1:5).

Themes (3)

What these chapters raise, each on its own page where one stands.

  • How the Song has been read

    The two traditions of reading the book, Jewish and Christian.

  • Marriage and family

    What Scripture teaches of marriage, from Eden onward.

  • Love and its time

    The charge not to arouse love until the time is right (2:7, 3:5).

No New Testament passage quotes or names these chapters.

The wedding, Song 3:6 to 5:1

What the text says across these 2 chapters, and the pages they open on.

A column of smoke comes up from the wilderness: it is Solomon's carriage, guarded by sixty warriors, and he wears the crown his mother gave him on the day of his wedding (3:11). The man then praises his bride from her eyes down to her breasts (4:1 to 7), calls her to come with him from Lebanon, and names her a garden locked and a spring enclosed (4:12). She asks the north wind and the south wind to blow on her garden and bids her beloved come into it (4:16). He answers that he has come into his garden, and a voice tells the friends to eat and drink (5:1).

I have come to 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. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.
Song of Solomon 5:1, Berean Standard Bible. The garden locked at 4:12 is entered, and the friends are told to eat and drink.
  • Song of Solomon 3the night search, and Solomon's processionShow summary, 3 pages

    At night she seeks the one she loves through the city, passes the watchmen and finds him. Then Solomon's carriage comes up from the wilderness on the day of his wedding.

    • She holds him and brings him to her mother's house (3:4).
    • The second charge to the daughters closes the search (3:5).
    • Sixty warriors guard a carriage of Lebanon timber, silver and gold (3:7 to 10).
    • Solomon wears the crown his mother gave him on his wedding day (3:11).

    On this chapter (3)

    Read Song of Solomon 3 verse by verse

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  • Song of Solomon 4his song of her, and the garden lockedShow summary, 2 pages

    He praises his bride from her eyes to her breasts and calls her to come with him from Lebanon. He names her a garden locked and a spring enclosed, and she asks him to come into his garden.

    • He calls her altogether beautiful, with no flaw (4:7).
    • Her garden holds pomegranates, nard, saffron, cinnamon and myrrh (4:13 and 14).
    • She asks the north wind and the south wind to blow on her garden (4:16).

    On this chapter (2)

    Read Song of Solomon 4 verse by verse

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Four songs of the body: who sings whom, and in what order

  1. 1He sings her

    4:1 to 7, the singer settled by the text's grammar

    From the head down (7 parts)

    1. 1. eyes
    2. 2. hair
    3. 3. teeth
    4. 4. lips
    5. 5. brow
    6. 6. neck
    7. 7. breasts

  2. 2She sings him

    5:10 to 16, the singer settled by the text's grammar

    From the head down (9 parts)

    1. 1. head
    2. 2. hair
    3. 3. eyes
    4. 4. cheeks
    5. 5. lips
    6. 6. arms
    7. 7. body
    8. 8. legs
    9. 9. mouth

  3. 3He sings her

    6:4 to 10, the singer settled by the text's grammar

    From the head down (4 parts)

    1. 1. eyes
    2. 2. hair
    3. 3. teeth
    4. 4. brow

  4. 4He sings her

    7:1 to 9, the singer assigned by the editors

    From the feet up (10 parts)

    1. 1. feet
    2. 2. thighs
    3. 3. navel
    4. 4. waist
    5. 5. breasts
    6. 6. neck
    7. 7. eyes
    8. 8. nose
    9. 9. head
    10. 10. hair
Read each card from the top. Each names the singer, the one sung, and the parts praised in the order the song names them. Three of the four run from the head down; the last, 7:1 to 9, runs from the feet up, the song that follows the dance of 6:13. He sings her three times and she sings him once. The singer of 7:1 to 9 is assigned by the editors, since the song addresses her and names the king in the third person (7:5). Sources: Song of Solomon 4:1 to 7, 5:10 to 16, 6:4 to 10, 7:1 to 9 in the Berean Standard Bible.

Characters (4)

Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.

  • Solomon

    The king whose carriage and wedding crown the chapter describes (3:7 to 11).

  • His mother

    She crowned him on the day of his wedding (3:11).

  • The sixty warriors

    The mighty men of Israel around the carriage, swords at their sides (3:7 and 8).

  • The friends

    Told to eat and drink freely at the garden (5:1).

Places (3)

Where the chapters stand.

  • The wilderness

    Where the procession comes up from, like a column of smoke (3:6).

  • Lebanon

    Where he calls her down from, with Amana, Senir and Hermon (4:8).

  • Gilead

    The mountain whose goats stream down like her hair (4:1).

Themes (3)

What these chapters raise, each on its own page where one stands.

  • The bride and the Jewish wedding

    The customs of betrothal and wedding behind the Bible's bride.

  • The garden

    The bride as a garden locked and then opened (4:12 to 5:1).

  • The wedding

    Solomon's wedding day, the one day the book names (3:11).

No New Testament passage quotes or names these chapters. The readings below set New Testament texts beside them, and each is marked as a later Christian reading.

Where the New Testament uses these chapters (1)each marked as a quotation or an allusion, with the evidence
  • Later Christian readingThe bride and her beloved, Song 4:8 to 5:1 at Ephesians 5:25 to 32. Paul speaks of Christ loving the church as a husband loves his wife and calls it a profound mystery. He does not name the Song, and the reading of the Song through his words is the church's. Held by Origen, Commentary on the Song of Songs, and Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs.

The seal, Song 8:5 to 14

What the text says in this chapter, and the pages it opens on.

The two come up from the wilderness together, she leaning on her beloved (8:5). She asks to be set as a seal over his heart and on his arm, and she says what love is: as strong as death, too strong for many waters to quench, and beyond any price (8:6 and 7). Her brothers ask what to do for their little sister, and she answers that she is a wall. She sets her own vineyard beside Solomon's at Baal-hamon, and the book ends with him asking to hear her voice and her call to come away (8:13 and 14).

Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
Song of Solomon 8:6, Berean Standard Bible. The one place the book says what love is.
  • Song of Solomon 8love as strong as death, and the last callShow summary, 4 pages

    She asks to be set as a seal over his heart, for love is as strong as death and many waters cannot quench it. Her brothers plan for their little sister, she sets her own vineyard beside Solomon's, and the book ends with her call to come away.

    • The third charge to the daughters closes the search and the praise (8:4).
    • The two come up from the wilderness together (8:5).
    • Solomon's vineyard at Baal-hamon is let out to tenants (8:11).
    • He asks to hear her voice, and she calls him to the mountains of spices (8:13 and 14).

    On this chapter (4)

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The book's own statement of its subject

6Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.

7Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.

Song of Solomon 8:6 and 7, Berean Standard Bible

The word behind the flame

שַׁלְהֶבֶתְיָה, shalhebetyah, rendered “the fiercest blaze of all” in the Berean text. It stands only here in the Hebrew Bible. Its last syllable, yah, is the short form of the LORD's name, and it is also read as the Hebrew way of saying the greatest of its kind.

The two readings and who holds them
The two verses stand apart because they are the one place the Song says what love is. Love is set beside death and Sheol, the grave, and no flood and no fortune can overcome it. The last word of 8:6 is one Hebrew word, and whether its ending names the LORD is argued under Where do readers disagree. Sources: The two verses above, in the Berean Standard Bible.

Characters (4)

Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.

  • The bride

    She asks to be set as a seal, and speaks the book's last words (8:14).

  • The little sister

    The girl her brothers plan for, a wall or a door (8:8 and 9).

  • Her brothers

    They speak once, of their little sister (8:8 and 9).

  • Solomon

    His vineyard at Baal-hamon, let out to tenants (8:11 and 12).

Places (3)

Where the chapters stand.

  • The wilderness

    The two come up from it together (8:5).

  • Baal-hamon

    Where Solomon's vineyard stands (8:11).

  • The mountains of spices

    Where the last verse sends him (8:14).

Themes (3)

What these chapters raise, each on its own page where one stands.

  • The seal

    The seal in Scripture, from the signet to the Spirit.

  • Love as strong as death

    The book's one statement about love (8:6 and 7).

  • Jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol

    Love's jealousy set beside the grave (8:6).

No New Testament passage quotes or names these chapters. The readings below set New Testament texts beside them, and each is marked as a later Christian reading.

Where the New Testament uses these chapters (1)each marked as a quotation or an allusion, with the evidence
  • Later Christian readingWho is this coming up from the wilderness?, Song 8:5 at Revelation 19:7. John hears that the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. The Song is not named, and the pairing is made by readers of both books. Held by Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on the Song.

Where do readers disagree?

One list: the readings with their holders, and what the evidence does not settle.

  • How has the Song been read?

    How the Song has been read, argued in full→
    • The LORD and Israel. Held by the Targum to the Song of Songs, which reads the book as Israel's history from the exodus to the Messiah, and by Rashi in his Commentary on the Song of Songs.
    • Christ and the church, and the soul. Held by Origen in his Commentary on the Song of Songs, and by Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs (1135 to 1153).
    • A celebration of married love. Held by Christian D. Ginsburg, The Song of Songs (1857), and Tremper Longman III, Song of Songs (2001).
    • A drama of three. Held by Heinrich Ewald, Das Hohelied Salomo's (1826), and set out at length by Ginsburg.

    What the evidence does not settle: The Hebrew carries no speaker labels and the book names no key, so whether its love points beyond itself is decided by how the canon is read. Delitzsch holds that the love is real and also a pattern of God's love.

    The argument in full

    The LORD and Israel. The tradition that kept the book read the lover as the LORD and the woman as Israel, and Jewish practice reads the Song at Passover beside the exodus.

    Christ and the church, and the soul. Scripture uses marriage for God's love of his people (Hosea 2:19 and 20; Ephesians 5:32), so the church read the bride as the church and as the believer.

    A celebration of married love. The text gives no key to an allegory and reads verse by verse as the love of a man and a woman, the love Genesis 2:24 and Proverbs 5:18 and 19 call good.

    A drama of three. A country shepherd is the woman's true love and Solomon a king who tries to win her for his court; 8:11 and 12 are her refusal of the king.

  • Did Solomon write it, and when?

    • Solomon, in his reign. Held by Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes (1885), who takes the title of 1:1 as it stands.
    • A collection that honours Solomon. Held by Ginsburg, and by Longman in his Song of Songs, who takes 1:1 as open.
    • The language cannot date it. Held by Ian Young and Robert Rezetko, Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts (2008).

    What the evidence does not settle: The title can be read three ways, and two rare words carry most of the dating argument, so neither the writer nor the date is settled by the text.

    The argument in full

    Solomon, in his reign. The title names Solomon, 1 Kings 4:32 credits him with a thousand and five songs, and the royal wealth of 3:6 to 11 and the places from Lebanon to En-gedi fit his kingdom.

    A collection that honours Solomon. The Hebrew of the title can mean for or about Solomon as well as by him, and Solomon appears inside the poem as its royal figure.

    The language cannot date it. Two rare words, pardes, an orchard (4:13), and appiryon, a carriage (3:9), have been read as late loanwords, but early and late styles of Hebrew overlapped and trade words travel ahead of empires.

  • Who is the Shulammite?

    • A woman of Shunem. Held by Delitzsch, who reads the name from the village of Shunem.
    • A name taken from Solomon's. Held by John Gill, An Exposition of the Song of Solomon (1728), on 6:13.
    • Israel called to return. Held by the Targum to the Song of Songs on 6:13, as translated by Hermann Gollancz, The Targum to the Song of Songs (1908).

    What the evidence does not settle: The name stands only at 6:13 and nowhere else in Scripture, so no second use decides it. In the Hebrew Bible the verse is numbered 7:1.

    The argument in full

    A woman of Shunem. The name is read as the Shunammite, a woman of the village of Shunem, the home of Abishag the Shunammite who served David (1 Kings 1:3).

    A name taken from Solomon's. The name is read as the feminine of Solomon's, as a wife takes her husband's name, so it pairs her with the king.

    Israel called to return. The fourfold call to come back is read as the call to the assembly of Israel to return to the LORD.

  • Why is the Song in the canon, and what did Akiba say?

    • The holy of holies. Held by Rabbi Akiba, as recorded in Mishnah Yadayim 3:5.
    • Kept because it was read as a figure. Held by Origen in his Commentary on the Song of Songs, in its prologue.
    • Kept as Scripture on married love. Held by Longman, in his Song of Songs, who reads the book as poetry of married love.

    What the evidence does not settle: The Mishnah records Akiba's answer without the other side's reasons, and the same teacher is remembered warning against singing the Song at banquets (Tosefta Sanhedrin 12:10), so the terms of the dispute are known only in part.

    The argument in full

    The holy of holies. In a dispute over whether the Song defiles the hands, the sages' phrase for holy Scripture, he said that all the Writings are holy and the Song of Songs is the holy of holies.

    Kept because it was read as a figure. The book was taught as the love of God for his people and kept for mature readers, and under that reading it was preserved and read.

    Kept as Scripture on married love. The Song stands in the canon beside Proverbs and Genesis 2 as God's word on the love of husband and wife, with no allegory needed to earn its place.

  • Does 8:6 read the flame of the LORD?

    • A flame of the LORD. Held by the American Standard Version (1901), Young's Literal Translation (1862) and the Darby translation (1890), which print the divine name in the verse, and by Delitzsch.
    • The fiercest flame. Held by King James's translators, who print a most vehement flame in the Authorized Version (1611), and by the Berean Standard Bible, which prints the fiercest blaze of all.

    What the evidence does not settle: The word stands only here in the Hebrew Bible, so no other use decides whether its ending names God or marks the superlative.

    The argument in full

    A flame of the LORD. The Hebrew word shalhebetyah ends in yah, the short form of the LORD's name, so the verse names him as the source of love's fire, the one place the book names God.

    The fiercest flame. The ending is read as the Hebrew way of making a thing the greatest of its kind, so the verse says love's fire is the fiercest there is.

The Text and the Spade

  • En-gedi (Tel Goren and the oasis, western shore of the Dead Sea)Iron Age settlement, seventh century BC and later

    The oasis named at 1:14, 'a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi,' is a real place with permanent springs in otherwise waterless country, and excavation found a settled Iron Age town with installations connected to the perfume industry the site was later famous for. The verse's picture of vineyards and fragrance in the desert is geography rather than invention.

  • Tirzah (Tell el-Farah North, excavated by Roland de Vaux, 1946-1960)occupied through the Iron Age; Israel's royal seat in the early ninth century BC

    At 6:4 the woman is 'as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem,' which sets her beside two named cities. Excavation confirmed Tirzah as a substantial northern city that served briefly as Israel's capital before Omri built Samaria (1 Kings 16:23-24). The name itself is built on a Hebrew root meaning to be pleasing, so the line works as both a place and a play on the word.

  • The South Arabian incense routeattested archaeologically from roughly the eighth century BC onward

    The spice list at 4:13-14 names frankincense, myrrh, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, and spikenard, which grew nowhere near Israel and arrived by caravan across Arabia or by sea from further east. The trade network is well attested, though scholars differ over how early it reached the volume the list assumes, and that disagreement feeds the dating question above.

The pages Song of Solomon opens on

Sources for this page

The painting in the band is The Beloved or The Bride, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, between 1865 and 1866. Public domain. The movements, the chapter entries, the figures and the Context are read off the text of the Song; the speakers are placed by the gender and number of the Hebrew forms where they settle it. The works behind the readings under Where do readers disagree are the Mishnah, tractate Yadayim; the Tosefta, tractate Sanhedrin; the Targum to the Song of Songs, as translated by Hermann Gollancz (1908); Origen, Commentary on the Song of Songs; Rashi, Commentary on the Song of Songs; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs (1135 to 1153); the King James Version (1611); John Gill, An Exposition of the Song of Solomon (1728); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706); Heinrich Ewald, Das Hohelied Salomo's (1826); Christian D. Ginsburg, The Song of Songs (1857); Young's Literal Translation (1862); Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes (1885); the Darby translation (1890); the American Standard Version (1901); Tremper Longman III, Song of Songs (2001); and Ian Young and Robert Rezetko, Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts (2008). Every verse quoted on this page is the Berean Standard Bible, read from the store.

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