אֲנִי חֲבַצֶּלֶת הַשָּׁרוֹן שׁוֹשַׁנַּת הָעֲמָקִים

I am as beautiful as a daffodil of the Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

כְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּה בֵּין הַחוֹחִים כֵּן רַעְיָתִי בֵּין הַבָּנוֹת

Her beloved confirms: Indeed, like a lily among the thorns, so is my love among the girls. You stand out among all the other girls, and you are different from them. Furthermore, just as one can enjoy the conspicuous beauty of a lily, but it is difficult to approach the flower due to the thorns, so too you are not easily accessible. This depiction alludes to the simultaneous intimacy and distance present in their relationship, which can be understood at all levels of interpretation.

כְּתַפּוּחַ בַּעֲצֵי הַיַּעַר כֵּן דּוֹדִי בֵּין הַבָּנִים בְּצִלּוֹ חִמַּדְתִּי וְיָשַׁבְתִּי וּפִרְיוֹ מָתוֹק לְחִכִּי

The young woman praises her beloved: Like an apple tree, with its distinct aroma, among the plain trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the boys. In addition to its scent, the apple tree possesses other advantages: In its shade I delighted and I sat, and its fruit was sweet to my palate.

הֱבִיאַנִי אֶל־בֵּית הַיָּיִן וְדִגְלוֹ עָלַי אַהֲבָה

He brought me to the wine house, a kind of tavern where men would drink. It is not clear whether such a tavern would serve women as well. Consequently, it seems that this phrase is an expression of the young woman’s wish that her lover would allow her to accompany him wherever he goes. It is also possible that this wine house was the equivalent of a modern-day café. Alternatively, this term refers to a vineyard. And his gaze [diglo] upon me is love. Diglu in Akkadian indicates seeing or gazing. Alternatively, our love is his banner [degel]; he takes pride in displaying to others the love that radiates from us.

סַמְּכוּנִי בָּאֲשִׁישׁוֹת רַפְּדוּנִי בּתַּפּוּחִים כִּי־חוֹלַת אַהֲבָה אָנִי

Support me with raisin cakes, cushion me with a bed of apples, for I am lovesick. In her weakness, the woman requests to be surrounded by fruit so as to create an aromatic, pleasant environment. It is possible that she mentions raisin cakes [ashishot] because of the reinforcement [ishush] that she requires. They were known by this name because they were considered to give strength to those who ate them. The raisin cakes and apples literarily parallel the wine house and the apple tree mentioned in the previous two verses.

שְׂמֹאלוֹ תַּחַת לְרֹאשִׁי וִימִינוֹ תְּחַבְּקֵנִי

His left arm is under my head and his right embraces me. In pining for her beloved, she imagines that she is lying close to him.

הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם בִּצְבָאוֹת אוֹ בְּאַיְלוֹת הַשָּׂדֶה אִם־תָּעִירוּ וְאִם־תְּעוֹרְרוּ אֶת־הָאַהֲבָה עַד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּץ

I administer an oath to you, daughters of Jerusalem, who are not active participants in the story but background characters surrounding the woman, by the gazelles, and by the deer of the field, that you not awaken and not rouse love, until it desires to awaken by itself. Do not stir the love from the outside; let it develop naturally. Since this oath involves matters of the heart, the woman invokes animals that symbolize beauty and love. This obscure language, which is repeated elsewhere in The Song of Songs (3:5, 8:4), indicates that the young woman is confident that her relationship with her beloved will ultimately blossom, and so she requests that her love be allowed to advance at the appropriate pace. Her fantasies of constant and public companionship, represented by the wine house, do not need to come to fruition immediately; on the contrary, she is worried that they might materialize prematurely. Still, she yearns for her beloved to reveal their mutual love before all at the appropriate time. Allegorically understood, the nation of Israel wishes for God to reveal Himself and display before all the nations His love and closeness to Israel.

קוֹל דּוֹדִי הִנֵּה זֶה בָּא מְדַלֵּג עַל־הֶהָרִים מְקַפֵּץ עַל־הַגְּבָעוֹת

The sound of the footsteps of my beloved, behold he approaches, leaping on the mountains, bounding on the hills toward me.

דּוֹמֶה דוֹדִי לִצְבִי אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים הִנֵּה־זֶה עוֹמֵד אַחַר כָּתְלֵנוּ מַשְׁגִּיחַ מִן־הַחַלֹּנוֹת מֵצִיץ מִן־הַחֲרַכִּים

My beloved is like a gazelle or a fawn, skipping speedily over the hills, in all its splendor; behold, he is already standing behind our wall. I can hear him behind the wall, and I can sense his presence, watching from the windows, peering at me through the cracks. Like the events of national redemption, an individual’s relationship with God is neither linear nor orderly. The gazelle racing over the mountains is alternately visible and hidden, as is the woman’s beloved as he stands behind the wall, only visible through a crack in the structure. The metaphor of the wall expresses varying stages of revelation and concealment.

עָנָה דוֹדִי וְאָמַר לִי קוּמִי לָךְ רַעְיָתִי יָפָתִי וּלְכִי־לָךְ

Drawing near, my beloved turned to me and spoke up, and he said to me: Get up, my love, my fair one, and go by yourself. Alternatively, come with me. The time has arrived for you to venture forth on a journey and to progress to a higher plane.

כִּי־הִנֵּה הַסְּתָו עָבָר הַגֶּשֶׁם חָלַף הָלַךְ לוֹ

For, behold, the winter [setav], the rainy season, has passed; the rain is over and gone. Although in modern Hebrew setav means autumn, in this verse it refers to winter, and this is also its meaning in Aramaic. In fact, it is questionable whether the Land of Israel has an autumn season at all, since its two principal seasons are a hot, dry summer and a rainy winter.

הַנִּצָּנִים נִרְאוּ בָאָרֶץ עֵת הַזָּמִיר הִגִּיעַ וְקוֹל הַתּוֹר נִשְׁמַע בְּאַרְצֵנוּ

The blossoms have been seen in the land, the time of the nightingale has arrived, and the characteristic sound of the turtledove is heard in our land. These migratory birds pass through Israel during the spring, and are therefore a sign of winter’s end.

הַתְּאֵנָה חָנְטָה פַגֶּיהָ וְהַגְּפָנִים סְמָדַר נָתְנוּ רֵיחַ קוּמִי לָךְ רַעְיָתִי יָפָתִי וּלְכִי־לָךְ

The fig tree formed its unripe figs. Unripe figs begin to form in early spring. And the blossoming vines have formed their budding, and emitted their pleasant fragrance. These buds appear as clusters of small white flowers. Get up, my love, my fair one, and go. Spring is the best time for walking in nature.

יוֹנָתִי בְּחַגְוֵי הַסֶּלַע בְּסֵתֶר הַמַּדְרֵגָה הַרְאִינִי אֶת־מַרְאַיִךְ הַשְׁמִיעִנִי אֶת־קוֹלֵךְ כִּי־קוֹלֵךְ עָרֵב וּמַרְאֵיךְ נָאוֶה

My dove, my love, who hides in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the terrace: Come out, and show me your appearance, let me hear your voice, for your voice is pleasant, and your appearance is lovely. The time has come for you to reveal yourself. This can be understood as a call to the individual soul or the nation of Israel to take action, as the time of redemption has arrived. According to the Sages’ allegorical reading, these verses allude to Israel’s exodus from Egypt, which took place in the spring. According to the allegory of the individual soul’s yearning for God, these verses describe how the periods of cold and darkness during which the soul was in hibernation are over, and have been replaced with light and life; it is therefore time to rise and venture forth.

אֶחֱזוּ־לָנוּ שׁוּעָלִים שֻׁעָלִים קְטַנִּים מְחַבְּלִים כְּרָמִים וּכְרָמֵינוּ סְמָדַר

However, the path ahead is neither straight nor smooth: Catch for us the foxes, those little foxes that ruin the vineyards, as our vineyards are already in bud, and the damage caused by the foxes can be significant. The little foxes symbolize the troubles of both the individual and the collective. Although they are not dangerous to humans, they can cause significant damage to vineyards as the grapes begin to grow. Likewise, even when the lovers’ romance begins to blossom, other troubles lie ahead.

דּוֹדִי לִי וַאֲנִי לוֹ הָרֹעֶה בַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים

Although there are obstacles to our coming together, this is not due to emotional distance: My beloved is mine, and I am his, who herds among the lilies. Although my beloved shepherds among the lilies, as I gather from his pleasant scent, he always remembers me, and I him; so the love between us will last. Even when I must chase away the foxes that ruin the vineyard, and he is occupied with important matters in his own world, there can be no doubting our bond.

עַד שֶׁיָּפוּחַ הַיּוֹם וְנָסוּ הַצְּלָלִים סֹב דְּמֵה־לְךָ דוֹדִי לִצְבִי אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים עַל־הָרֵי בָתֶר

We cannot see each other until the day is great, until the sun shines fully, or until the wind blows, and the shadows flee. In the meantime, turn around, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart on the cleft mountains, mountains that are scored by ravines and valleys. Alongside the yearning for closeness, the partners give each other space. This point is often lost between lovers. Not all times are ripe for intense passion, and it is sometimes preferable to allow one’s beloved to tend to his or her own matters. Here the young woman is confident in the strength of their bond; she is certain that her beloved will return. Whether this verse refers to historical events in the process of national redemption or to the experiences of the individual’s soul, there are times of passion, revelation, and intimacy, and there are also times of calm, concealment, and distance. In these moments of distance, the couple is not truly separated from one another. Rather, their connection is toned down, demanding less of each of them. Love requires moments of respite so that its intensity does not become overwhelming.