Dead Sea Scrolls Bible Translations
Change to Book/Chapter View
<< Previous Scroll:
4Q106 Canticlesa
Scroll View: 4Q107 Canticlesb
Next Scroll: 4Q108 Canticlesc>>
Translation process is ongoing.
For current status see details

Home

Genesis - 22 Scrolls

Exodus - 17 Scrolls

Leviticus - 16 Scrolls

Numbers - 11 Scrolls

Deuteronomy - 33 Scrolls

Joshua - 2 Scrolls

Judges - 3 Scrolls

Ruth - 4 Scrolls

Samuel - 4 Scrolls

Kings - 3 Scrolls

Chronicles - 1 Scroll

Ezra - 1 Scroll

Job - 4 Scrolls

Psalms - 41 Scrolls

Proverbs - 2 Scrolls

Ecclesiastes - 2 Scrolls

Song of Solomon - 4 Scrolls

Isaiah - 21 Scrolls

Jeremiah - 6 Scrolls

Lamentations - 4 Scrolls

Ezekiel - 7 Scrolls

Daniel - 8 Scrolls

Minor Prophets - 10 Scrolls

The Translation Process

Frequently Asked Questions

About the Author

4Q107 Canticlesb

Language: Hebrew

Date: Before 30 B.C - 68 A.D.

Location: Qumran Cave 49

Contents: Song of Solomon 2:9-3:2; 3:5 (excludes 3:6-8) 9-11; 4:1-3 (excludes 4:4-7) 8-11, 14-16; 5:1

 

Song of Solomon 2

9 My beloved is like a roe or a young deer.

Behold, he stands behind our wall!

He looks in at the windows.

He glances through the lattice.

10 My beloved spoke, and said to me,

“Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

11 For, behold, the winter is past.

The rain is over and gone.

12 Behold the time the flowers appear on the earth.

The time of the singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

13 Behold, the fig tree ripens her green figs.

The vines are in blossom.

They give out their fragrance.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.”

Lover

14 My dove in the clefts of the rock,

In the hiding places of the mountainside,

Let me see your face.

Let me hear your voice[1];

for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

15 Catch for us the foxes,

the little foxes that plunder the vineyards;

for our vineyards are in blossom.

Beloved

16 My beloved is mine, and I am his.

He browses among the lilies.

17 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away,

turn, my beloved,

and be like a roe or a young deer on the mountains of Bether.

 

Song of Solomon 3

By night, every night on my bed,

I sought him whom my soul loves.

I sought him, but I didn’t find him.

I will get up now, and go about the city;

in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves.

I sought him, but I didn’t find him.

[..]

5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

by the roes, or by the hinds of the field,

that you not stir up, nor awaken love,

until it so desires.[2]

9 King Solomon made himself a carriage

of the wood of Lebanon.

10 He made its pillars of silver,

its bottom of gold, its seat of purple,

the middle of it being paved with love,

from the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon,

with the crown with which his mother has crowned him,

in the day of his weddings,

in the day of the gladness of his heart.

 

Song of Solomon 4

Lover

1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love.

Behold, you are beautiful.

Your eyes are doves behind your veil.

Your hair is as a flock of goats,

that descend from Mount Gilead.

Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock,

which have come up from the washing,

where every one of them has twins.

None is bereaved among them.

Your lips are like scarlet thread.

Your mouth is lovely.

Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.[3]

You Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,

You come with me from Lebanon.

Look from the top of Amana Omnon,

from the top of Senir and Hermon,

from the lions’ dens,

from the mountains of the leopards.

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride.

You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes,

with one chain of your neck.

10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!

How much better is your love than wine!

The fragrance of your perfumes perfume than all kinds of spices!

11 Your lips, my sister, my bride, drip like the honeycomb.

Honey and milk are under your tongue.

The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

[..]

14 spikenard and saffron,

calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree;

myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,

15 a fountain of gardens,

a well of living waters,

flowing streams from Lebanon.

Beloved

16 Awake, north wind; and come, you south!

Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out.

Let my beloved come into his garden,

and taste his precious fruits.

 

Song of Solomon 5

Lover

1 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride.

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

I have drunk my wine with my milk.

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

 

Friends

Eat, friends!

Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.

 

 



[1] In this phrase the scroll uses a different word for voice than the MT, but in the next phrase it uses the same word, with a different spelling.

[2] The scroll moves from 3:5 to 3:9, excluding verses 6-8.

[3] The scroll moves from 4:3 to 4:8, excluding verses 4-7.

How to read these pages:

      The translation to the left is based on the World English Bible. Words in regular black font are words in the scrolls matching the traditional text for that passage.

      Words in italics cannot be seen in the scroll, since the scroll is fragmentary. These words are supplied for readability by the World English Bible translation.

      Words present in the scroll but with some letters unreadable or missing are in blue like this: blue. One Hebrew word often is translated into multiple English words, and when this occurs, all the English words are in blue.

      Words present in the scroll but with spelling differences that do not affect the meaning are in green like this: green. This is common in Hebrew.

      If the scroll is different from the traditional text, words in the traditional text that are missing from the text of the scroll are marked through in red like this: strike-through.

      If the scroll is different from the traditional text, words in the scroll that are not in the traditional text are underlined in red like this: new words.