Praise of the Man’s Body
Song of Songs 5:10–16
Hellenistic Period, 4th–2nd Century BCE
10My beloved is clear-skinned and ruddy,
Preeminent among ten thousand.
11His head is finest gold,
His locks are curled
And black as a raven.
12His eyes are like doves
By watercourses,
Bathed in milk,
Set by a brimming pool.
13His cheeks are like beds of spices,
Banks of perfume
His lips are like lilies;
They drip flowing myrrh.
14His hands are rods of gold,
Studded with beryl;
His belly a tablet of ivory,
Adorned with sapphires.
15His legs are like marble pillars
Set in sockets of fine gold.
He is majestic as Lebanon,
Stately as the cedars.
16His mouth is delicious
And all of him is delightful.
Such is my beloved,
Such is my darling,
O maidens of Jerusalem!
Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
You may also like
Nightfather
He never mentions it by name. It might have been Trebibor or Majdawitz, Soblinka or Birkenhausen. He talks about “the camp,” as if there had been just one.
“After the war,” he says, “I saw a film…
Modeh Ani
Thank you, Lord, for having me awaken
to become a witness to the flaming of the sun.
Someone gently shook me from my bed
as I was somewhere in a dream
of visiting Jerusalem again.
And I walked (still…
Horse and Rider Figurine
This terra-cotta figurine from Lachish is very schematic, and the rider’s legs are not shown. The rider cannot represent an average person because people—even kings—more often rode on donkeys and…
You may also like
Nightfather
He never mentions it by name. It might have been Trebibor or Majdawitz, Soblinka or Birkenhausen. He talks about “the camp,” as if there had been just one.
“After the war,” he says, “I saw a film…
Modeh Ani
Thank you, Lord, for having me awaken
to become a witness to the flaming of the sun.
Someone gently shook me from my bed
as I was somewhere in a dream
of visiting Jerusalem again.
And I walked (still…
Horse and Rider Figurine
This terra-cotta figurine from Lachish is very schematic, and the rider’s legs are not shown. The rider cannot represent an average person because people—even kings—more often rode on donkeys and…