HOLY BIBLE: Song of Songs 2 (original) (raw)

8 φωνὴ ἀδελφιδοῦ μου ἰδοὺ οὗτος ἥκει πηδῶν ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη διαλλόμενος ἐπὶ τοὺς βουνούς 9 ὅμοιός ἐστιν ἀδελφιδός μου τῇ δορκάδι ἢ νεβρῷ ἐλάφων ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη Βαιθηλ ἰδοὺ οὗτος ἕστηκεν ὀπίσω τοῦ τοίχου ἡμῶν παρακύπτων διὰ τῶν θυρίδων ἐκκύπτων διὰ τῶν δικτύων 10 ἀποκρίνεται ἀδελφιδός μου καὶ λέγει μοι ἀνάστα ἐλθέ ἡ πλησίον μου καλή μου περιστερά μου 11 ὅτι ἰδοὺ ὁ χειμὼν παρῆλθεν ὁ ὑετὸς ἀπῆλθεν ἐπορεύθη ἑαυτῷ 12 τὰ ἄνθη ὤφθη ἐν τῇ γῇ καιρὸς τῆς τομῆς ἔφθακεν φωνὴ τοῦ τρυγόνος ἠκούσθη ἐν τῇ γῇ ἡμῶν 13 ἡ συκῆ ἐξήνεγκεν ὀλύνθους αὐτῆς αἱ ἄμπελοι κυπρίζουσιν ἔδωκαν ὀσμήν ἀνάστα ἐλθέ ἡ πλησίον μου καλή μου περιστερά μου 14 καὶ ἐλθὲ σύ περιστερά μου ἐν σκέπῃ τῆς πέτρας ἐχόμενα τοῦ προτειχίσματος δεῖξόν μοι τὴν ὄψιν σου καὶ ἀκούτισόν με τὴν φωνήν σου ὅτι ἡ φωνή σου ἡδεῖα καὶ ἡ ὄψις σου ὡραία

8 The voice I love! See where he comes, how he speeds over the mountains, how he spurns the hills![3] 9 Gazelle nor fawn was ever so fleet of foot as my heart’s love. And now he is standing on the other side of this very wall; now he is looking in through each window in turn, peering through every chink. 10 I can hear my true love calling to me: Rise up, rise up quickly, dear heart, so gentle, so beautiful, rise up and come with me. 11 Winter is over now, the rain has passed by. 12 At home, the flowers have begun to blossom; pruning-time has come; we can hear the turtle-dove cooing already, there at home. 13 There is green fruit on the fig-trees; the vines in flower are all fragrance. Rouse thee, and come, so beautiful, so well beloved, 14 still hiding thyself as a dove hides in cleft rock or crannied wall. Shew me but thy face, let me but hear thy voice, that voice sweet as thy face is fair.

8
Sponsa. Vox dilecti mei; ecce iste venit,
saliens in montibus, transiliens colles. 9
Similis est dilectus meus capreæ,
hinnuloque cervorum.
En ipse stat post parietem nostrum,
respiciens per fenestras,
prospiciens per cancellos. 10
En dilectus meus loquitur mihi.
Sponsus. Surge, propera, amica mea,
columba mea, formosa mea, et veni: 11
jam enim hiems transiit;
imber abiit, et recessit. 12
Flores apparuerunt in terra nostra;
tempus putationis advenit:
vox turturis audita est in terra nostra; 13
ficus protulit grossos suos;
vineæ florentes dederunt odorem suum.
Surge, amica mea, speciosa mea, et veni: 14
columba mea, in foraminibus petræ, in caverna maceriæ,
ostende mihi faciem tuam,
sonet vox tua in auribus meis:
vox enim tua dulcis, et facies tua decora.

[1] vv. 1-6: The village girl appears to be speaking, except in verse 2, which may be attributed to Solomon. ‘He’ is the country lover in verse 3, Solomon in verse 6.

[2] The end of this verse is sometimes taken literally in the Hebrew text, as meaning ‘do not arouse or excite (the sentiment of) love (in me) until it pleases to awake of its own accord’. But the Latin rendering, which interprets ‘love’ as ‘the loved one’ seems far simpler. If it is right, Solomon is the speaker; the village girl has fallen asleep over the banquet.

[3] v. 8 of this chapter - v. 4 of the next chapter. Since this passage begins and ends with a warning that the sleeper must not be awoken, the pictures recorded in it are evidently those of a dream. In verse 9, the dreamer seems to echo the half-heard utterance of verse 7.

[4] This is usually thought to be the text of some country song; the words ‘How was it they sang?’ have been inserted above, so as to prepare the reader for this.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd