Lovemaking in the Song of Songs

Lovemaking in the Song of Songs 1. The attraction and articulation of beauty Said about her Dark am I, yet lovely (1:5) I liken you, my darling, to a mare (1:9) Your cheeks are beautiful with ear-rings (1:10) How beautiful you are, my darling! (1:15) I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys (2:1) ..show me your face..

.(2:14) How beautiful you are, my darling! (4:1) Your eyes behind your veil are doves (4:1) Your hair is like a flock of goats (4:1) Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn (4:2) Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon (4:3) Your mouth is lovely (4:3) your temples...like the halves of a pomegranate (4:3) Your neck is like the tower of David (4:4) Your two breast are like two fawns (4:5) You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes (4:9) .

.. there is no flaw in you (4:7) You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah (6:4) ...

lovely as Jerusalem (6:4) ...majestic as troops with banners (6:4) Who is this that appears like the dawn? (6:10) Your graceful legs are like jewels (7:1) Your navel is a rounded goblet (7:2) Your waist is a mound of wheat (7:2) Your breasts are like two fawns (7:3) Your neck is like an ivory tower (7:3) Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon (7:4) Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon (7:4) Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel (7:5) Your hair is like royal tapestry (7:5) Your stature is like that of the palm (7:7) ..

.your breasts like clusters of fruit (7:7)  Said about him How handsome you are, my lover! (1:16) Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover (2:3) My lover is radiant and ruddy (5:10) My lover is like a gazelle or a young stage (2:9) ...the one my heart loves (3:1) My lover is radiant and ruddy (5:10) His head is purest gold (5:11) His hair is wavy (5:11) His eyes are like doves (5:12) His cheeks are like beds of spice (5:13) His lips are lilies (5:13) His arms are rods of gold (5:14) His body is like polished ivory (5:14) His legs are pillars of marble (5:15) His appearance is like Lebanon (5:15) His mouth is sweetness itself (5:16) He is altogether lovely (5:16) This is my lover, this is my friend (5:16) 2.

Erotic arousal The five senses are brought into play in the Song: Taste His fruit is sweet to my taste (2:3) ...and taste its choice fruits (4:16) I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey (5:1) ..

.your mouth like the best wine (7:9) Smell Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes (1:3) ...my perfume spread its fragrance (1:12) .

..perfumed with myrrh and incense (3:6) ...

the fragrance of your perfume (4:10) ...the fragrance of your garments (4:11) Touch ..

.your love [caresses] is more delightful than wine (1:2) His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me (2:6; also at 8:3) I held him and would not let him go (3:4) Hearing ... let me hear your voice (2:14) Listen! My lover is knocking (5:2) You who dwell in the gardens .

..let me hear your voice! (8:13) Sight Do not stare at me because I am dark (1:6) ...

show me your face (2:14) You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes (4:9) Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me (6:5) ...come back, that we may gaze on you! (6:13) A general state of arousal underlies the following verses: ..

.your love is more delightful than wine (1:2) ...resting between my breast (1:13) .

..his fruit is sweet to my taste (2:3) I am faint with love (2:5) ...

he browse among the lilies (2:16; also at 6:3) Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle, or like a stag on the rugged hills (2:17) I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense (4:6) You have stolen my heart (4:9) ...my heart began to pound for him (5:4) ..

.my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the lock (5:5) Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim? (6:13) I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit (7:8) The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at out door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you (7:13) I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates (8:2) Under the apple tree I roused you (8:5) Kissing is alluded to in several places: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth (1:2) He has taken me to the banquet hall (2:4) Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb (4:11) His mouth is sweetness itself (5:16) ...your mouth like the best wine.

May the wine go straight to my lover, flowing gently over lips and teeth (7:9) I would kiss you, and no-one would despise me (8:1) A state of undress: Your graceful legs (= rounded thighs) (7:1) Your navel (lit., vulva) (7:2) Your waist (lit., belly) (7:2) Your breasts (7:3) 3. Who initiates? The woman's initiatives Let him kiss me (1:2) Take me away with you (1:4) Tell me, you whom I love (1:7) ..

.turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle (2:17) I looked for the one my heart loves (3:1) I will get up now and go about the city (3:2) I will search for the one my heart loves (3:2) Let my lover come into his garden (4:16) I arose to open for my lover (5:5) Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages (7:11) ...there I will give you my love (7:12) I would kiss you (8:1) Under the apple tree I roused you (8:5) Come away, my love (8:14) The man's initiatives He has taken me to the banquet hall (2:4) Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me (2:10) .

..show me your face (2:14) Come with me from Lebanon (4:8) My lover is knocking! (5:2) I will climb the palm tree: I will take hold of its fruit (7:8) 4. The times of intimacy ..

.resting (= spending the night) (1:13) Until the day breaks and the shadows flee (2:17) Let us spend the night in the villages (7:11) Let us go early to the vineyards (7:12) 5. The places of intimacy Let the king bring me into his chambers (1:4) ...

where you rest your sheep at midday (1:7) The beams of our house are cedars, our rafters are firs (1:17) He has taken me to the banquet hall (2:4) ...over the hills (2:8-13) ..

.in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding-places on the mountainside (2:14) I...brought him to my mother's house (3:4) .

..let us go the countryside (7:11) I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house (8:2) Under the apple tree (8:5) You who dwell in the gardens (8:13) 6. Consummation Let my lover into his garden and taste its choice fruits (4:16) I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride (5:1) ..

.there I will give you my love (7:12)