The Song of Songs: A New Translation with an Introduction and Commentary

by Ariel Bloch, Chana Bloch

Ariel and Chana Bloch's new translation of the Song of Songs--the most sexually explicit and sensually rich book of the Bible--is pure delight from beginning to end. Its introduction is an accessible, sophisticated, entertaining, and comprehensive orientation to the literary and religious history of the Song of Songs. The Blochs say the speakers in this poem "don't suffer love, they savor it." Their translation, overflowing with full--almost to the point of florid--feeling ("Feast, friends, and drink / till you are drunk with love!"), arrives at a time when many Jews and Christians are opening themselves to the religious dimensions of sexuality and human love. Song of Songs has a great deal to teach us; this translation is sure to attract many eager students. --Michael Joseph Gross

Genres: Poetry, Theology, Religion, Reference

257 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1998

About the author

Ariel Bloch is professor emeritus of Near Eastern studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This hymn to romantic love—said to be written by Solomon but more likely not—is accepted as canonical by both Judaism and Christianity despite its being about pre-marital erotic love. “What were the ancient rabbis thinking!” Stephen Mitchell asks rhetorically in one of the volume’s introductions. In Mitchell’s and Bloch’s introductions it is further observed that God is not mentioned once in the poem and none of the numerous age-old, religiously sanctioned mis-readings of the poem can stand up to the rigor of linguistic analysis: it is not an allegory for God’s love of Israel or the Church’s love for Christ or anything but a love poem, a Romeo and Juliet story without the fatally opposed families, just two young people in love, full of desire, urgency, and the innocence of first love.

She says,

“I am dark, daughters of Jerusalem,
and I am beautiful!
Dark as the tents of Kedar, lavish
as Solomon’s tapestries.”

He says,

“And you, my beloved,
how beautiful you are!
Your eyes are doves.”

The poem is ardent, discretely erotic; he says, or most likely sings,

“Your breasts are two fawns,
twins of a gazelle,
grazing in a field of lilies.”

She is equally frank in her desire,

“Awake, north wind! O south wind, come
breathe upon my garden,
let its spices stream out.
Let my lover come into his garden
and taste its delicious fruit.”

It is a gorgeous work, gorgeously translated. The book also features wonderful front and back matter, including, in addition to the previously mentioned introductions, an afterward by Robert Alter and translators’ notes.

[CJ Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads great, avoids the crass and prurient, and has helpful commentary, plus facing page Hebrew and English. Argues for the lover and and beloved as unmarried. Frequently resorts to the "fantasy" device for explaining things, especially related to Solomon and kingship, as in "we're playing king and queen", but it never occurs to the Blochs to even suggest that the couple may be playing unmarried. Both options (really unmarried and playing unmarried) be problematic to some level. Beautiful and concise. Well worth having.

[Fostergrants · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm giving this 3 stars because i enjoyed the Marcia Falk translation just a bit more.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fresh look at the Song, with lots of background and explanation.

[Lori]

Took it from the "free shelf" of a fellow PLTS student. I will hang onto it as a commentary and the translation is very nice (although I don't agree with all of their reasoning).

[Craig Dove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently returned to this book in sermon preparation; I'd forgotten how much I enjoy this translation.

[Henry Begler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise and striking translation with a good introduction/afterward and notes. I hadn’t read the Song of Songs before but it seems to me like this found a good balance between abandoning the fusty moralism of earlier versions and playing up the sexual explicitness too much to be like "we are SO modern and can handle all the stuff that the KJV translators couldn’t". As they state, sex is not eros and vice versa, there are some egregious examples of this cited in the introduction.

Overall I found it very beautiful. The tone is very fresh, wide-eyed, intoxicated. Kind of nuts that this is in the Bible. They touched on a lot of the strained efforts to make it a metaphor for Christ’s love or God’s relationship to Israel or w/e, I wish they expounded on this more as there are all kinds of hilarious reaches in the history of biblical criticism and theology (Lines like “My love reached in for the latch/and my heart/beat wild/I rose to open to my love/my fingers wet with myrrh” totally chaste and God-fearing stuff here!).

Like a lot of old poems, when paired down to its essence like this it feels strikingly modern. The poem shifts temporally with sudden jumps in setting and between narrators (the voices of the two lovers and the “daughters of jerusalem,” a sort of chorus) in a way that, if you take a poetry class, you would think never showed up until TS Eliot. The commentary is helpful in certain passages but this is the second book I’ve read in a row that makes me really wish I knew Biblical Hebrew as there’s only so far you can go without it.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

“My dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the shadow of the cliff,
let me see you, all of you!
Let me hear your voice,
your delicious song.
I love to look at you.”
—
“Oh come with me, my bride,
come down with me from Lebanon.
Look down from the peak of Amana,
look down from Senir and Hermon,
from the mountains of the leopards,
the lions' dens.

You have ravished my heart,
my sister, my bride,
ravished me with one glance of your eyes,
one link of your necklace.

And oh, your sweet loving,
my sister, my bride.
The wine of your kisses, the spice
of your fragrant oils.

Your lips are honey, honey and milk
are under your tongue,
your clothes hold the scent of Lebanon.”

[Brady Baylis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is rare for the academic process and study to make a text more erotic and titillating. The Blochs buck this trend to make the Song of Songs an erotic literary experience. This is a masterpiece because the Blochs, by faithfully translating the text, allow the emotions, desire, eroticism, and humanity to seep across the pages and thousands of years

[allyson dunn-worthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

mmmm eros

[Izzy K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly interesting and amazing translation of such a unique text.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tale of compassion, caring and loyalty. I could not help but note that her beauty is compared to a city, Jerusalem, and that she is valued as good as seven sons.
The English translation does not resonate for me, but the commentary is quite good and worth a reperusal.

[Aamia Malik · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful translations of a classic religious text. Appreciate that so much room is left for the interpretation of the reader.