Song of Songs 2:8-17
New Catholic Bible
Second Poem[a]
Let Me See You
Bride:
8 Hark! I hear the voice of my beloved.
Look, here he comes,
leaping across the mountains[b]
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Look where he stands
behind our wall,
peering in through the windows,
gazing through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks,
and he says to me:
“Arise, my beloved,
my fair one, and come!
11 [c]For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
12 The flowers appear in the countryside;
the season of joyful songs has arrived,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree puts forth its figs
and the blossoms on the vine give forth their fragrance.
Arise, my beloved,
my fair one, and come!”
Bridegroom:
14 O my dove, hiding in the clefts of the rock,
in the sheltered recesses of the cliff,
let me see you,
let me hear your voice.
For your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
Companions:
15 Catch the foxes for us,
the little foxes
that ruin our vineyards,
for our vineyards are blossoming.
Bride:
16 My beloved belongs to me, and I am his;[d]
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
17 Before the dawn[e] comes,
and the shadows flee,
return, my beloved,
like a gazelle or a young stag
upon the mountains of the covenant.
Footnotes
- Song of Songs 2:8 In her home, the bride longs for the return of her bridegroom; he appears in the window and invites her to take a walk in the freshness of springtime. How each of them wishes to reach the heart of the other. But their time together turns short. The young woman’s companions appear and liken the lovers to the marauding little foxes that people distrust (v. 15)—in spring the foxes set their cubs down amid the flowering vines. The bride responds sharply and protests her love; she invites the bridegroom to return that evening.
God too searches for his people; obstacles ceaselessly appear and prevent the rediscoveries even when Israel is in her own land. More than once God seems to disappear. Rediscovering the new strength of its love, the community pleads for the return of the Lord, who offers his people a covenant, a union capable of fulfilling all the aspirations of human beings. - Song of Songs 2:8 Mountains: i.e., of Judah (see Isa 40:3-5, 9-11; 52:7; 62:10-12).
- Song of Songs 2:11 Spring in bloom is the time of love as well as the symbol of salvation (see Hos 14:6-8).
- Song of Songs 2:16 This verse is patterned after the covenant formula of the Prophets: “They . . . will be my people, and I will be their God” (Jer 32:38; see also Hos 2:25; Jer 31:33).
- Song of Songs 2:17 Dawn: the image of the dawn symbolizes the hour of deliverance (see Ps 17:15). Covenant: literally, “Bether,” whose meaning is uncertain.
