32 passages · Humanity
God makes a woman from the man's rib and brings her to him. The man celebrates her as his own kind, and the narrator says a man and wife become one flesh, unashamed.
Rebekah and her maids travel to Canaan, where she first sees Isaac walking in the field and veils herself. Isaac takes her as his wife and is comforted after his mother Sarah's death.
Jacob arrives near Haran, learns from shepherds that Laban's daughter Rachel is coming, and rolls the stone from the well for her flock. He kisses her, weeps, and is welcomed by Laban.
Jacob agrees to work seven years for Rachel, but Laban gives him Leah on the wedding night. Laban explains local custom and Jacob agrees to work seven more years for Rachel.
Ruth carries out the plan. Boaz wakes startled at midnight and finds a woman at his feet, and Ruth asks him to spread his garment over her because he is a kinsman-redeemer.
The book opens with its title and the woman's yearning for her beloved, whose love and name she finds sweeter than wine. Others join in to praise him.
The woman tells the daughters of Jerusalem not to stare at her sun-darkened skin, explaining she was made to tend her family's vineyards. She asks her beloved where he pastures his flock and is told to follow the shepherds' tracks.
The man compares his beloved to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots and admires her adornments, promising gold and silver ornaments.
The woman describes her beloved as fragrant myrrh and henna blossom, delighting in his closeness.
The two exchange short praises of one another's beauty and picture the green outdoors as their bed and cedar and fir as their house.
The woman calls herself a simple flower of the countryside, and the man says she stands out among other women like a lily among thorns. She answers that he is like an apple tree whose shade and fruit she enjoys.
The woman describes being brought to a banquet under love's banner, feeling faint with love and held in his arms. She charges the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up love before its proper time.
The woman hears her beloved approaching, bounding like a gazelle across the hills, and finds him standing outside her wall looking in.
The beloved calls her to come away with him because winter is over and spring has arrived, with flowers, birds and ripening figs. He asks to see her face and hear her voice.
A refrain asks for the little foxes that spoil blooming vineyards to be caught, a picture of small threats to love. The woman affirms that she and her beloved belong to each other and asks him to return before daybreak.
The woman tells of seeking her beloved at night through the city streets, asking the watchmen, and finally finding him and bringing him to her mother's house. She repeats her charge not to awaken love too early.
Onlookers describe a procession coming from the wilderness: a fragrant, luxurious carriage of King Solomon guarded by sixty warriors. The daughters of Zion are invited to see the king wearing his wedding crown.
The man lists her features one by one, using images of doves, goats, sheep, pomegranates and towers, and concludes that she is beautiful without flaw. He says he will go to the mountain of myrrh.
He calls her to come away, says she has captured his heart, and praises her love as better than wine. He describes her as an enclosed garden and sealed spring filled with the finest spices and fresh water.
The bride calls the winds to spread the garden's fragrance and invites her beloved to come into his garden and taste its fruits.
The man says he has come into his garden and enjoyed its spice, honey and wine, and voices urge the lovers to eat and drink freely.
The woman tells of a dream-like night when her beloved knocked and she hesitated. When she opened he was gone, and the city watchmen beat her while she searched. She asks the daughters of Jerusalem to tell him she is sick with love.
The daughters ask what sets her beloved apart, and she answers with a head-to-toe description of him in images of gold, jewels and cedars, ending by calling him her beloved and friend.
The daughters of Jerusalem offer to help search for him, and the woman replies that he has gone to his garden. She affirms that they belong to each other.
The man again praises her beauty with familiar images and calls her his one perfect love, unmatched by queens and concubines. Others praise her as radiant like the dawn.
The woman describes going to a walnut grove and being swept unexpectedly among royal chariots. Voices call the Shulammite to come back so they can gaze at her.
The man describes her beauty from her feet upward with images of jewels, wheat, towers and a palm tree. He says he will climb the palm tree and take hold of its fruit.
The woman says she belongs to her beloved and invites him to spend the night in the fields and vineyards among the blossoms, where she will give him her love.
The woman wishes her beloved were like a brother so she could show affection freely. She pictures leading him to her mother's house and repeats her charge not to awaken love before its time.
Onlookers see the couple coming up from the wilderness, and the woman asks to be set as a seal on his heart. She says love is as strong as death and cannot be quenched by floods or bought with wealth.