Judaism
Song of Songs 1
Text
THE song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— For thy love is better than wine.
Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; Thy name is as ointment poured forth; Therefore do the maidens love thee.
Draw me, we will run after thee; The king hath brought me into his chambers; We will be glad and rejoice in thee, We will find thy love more fragrant than wine! Sincerely do they love thee.
’I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon.
Look not upon me, that I am swarthy, That the sun hath tanned me; My mother’s sons were incensed against me, They made me keeper of the vineyards; But mine own vineyard have I not kept.’
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon; For why should I be as one that veileth herself Beside the flocks of thy companions?
If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock And feed thy kids, beside the shepherds’tents.
I have compared thee, O my love, To a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.
Thy cheeks are comely with circlets, Thy neck with beads.
We will make thee circlets of gold With studs of silver.
While the king sat at his table, My spikenard sent forth its fragrance.
My beloved is unto me as a bag of myrrh, That lieth betwixt my breasts.
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna In the vineyards of En-gedi.
Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are as doves. .
Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant; Also our couch is leafy.
The beams of our houses are cedars, And our panels are cypresses.
Text: The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), public domain, via Sefaria.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Dhammapada 129 (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato)
“All tremble at the rod, all fear death. Treating others like oneself, neither kill nor incite to kill.”
Divine Compassion & Mercy
Quran 1:1
“In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.”
Luke 6:36
“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”
Snp 1.8 (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato)
“Even as a mother would protect with her life her child, her only child, so too for all creatures unfold a boundless heart.”
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1
“ik oankaar sat naam: one Creator, whose Name is Truth, beyond fear and enmity.”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
Dhammapada 2 (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato)
“Intention is the leader of things; intention is first, they’re made by intention. If with pure intent you speak or act, happiness follows you like a shadow that never leaves.”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 16 (trans. Edwin Arnold)
“The Doors of Hell Are threefold, whereby men to ruin pass, The door of Lust, the door of Wrath, the door Of Avarice. Let a man shun those three!”