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The Song of Songs: A New Translation

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Reading "The Song of Songs" directly out of the Bible and reading the work of Ariel and Chana Block is a complete different experience. The later enriches the first! An academic approach providing a first rate translation of "The Song of Songs," an in depth study and analysis of the poem itself, will broaden your understanding and enjoyment of this forever lasting and debated love poem. Its love transcending sexual imaginary!

As love poetry in the midst of theology and prophecy, The Song of Songs (or "of Solomon") is an often-ignored book of scripture. This translation celebrates its important place in our faith traditions. While it is aimed for the Jewish reader, as a Christian in love I found this a moving book, and as a scholar I found the commentary useful. Thank you for showing this to me, Rebbe!

The best translation, hands down, is this Modern Library Classics by Bloch and Bloch. The layout is very user-friendly, with the original Hebrew on one side, with the English translation on the other. Anyone who knows or is studying Hebrew will appreciate this feature. Also the Song jumps between voices and narration without the typical "he said"/"she said" obtrusions that are common to modern writing. Using context clues it is not too challenging to figure out if the lines belong to the Lover or the Beloved, but the translators' use of italics and bold, makes this distinction clear and renders a very smooth reading.

What makes this translation supreme is Bloch and Bloch's great command of Biblical Hebrew combined with their artistry in maintaining the poetic beauty of this text. They took great care to translate this text as closely as possible to the original Hebrew, but still made some artistic adjustments when a too literal translation would be awkward.

This edition includes a wonderful introduction which discusses the various historical interpretations of this text, as well as their own take. A detailed commentary follows which explains in minutiae the justifications for various translation decisions. For example the word "love" in 5:1, Bloch and Bloch argue has in Hebrew really the specific meaning of "love-making" as opposed to other Biblical terms for love such as the NT Greek "philos," or "agape," or the OT Hebrew "chesed" all of which can have meanings quite different from the act of coitus implied in "love-making." But the Blochs are careful to point out that the same Hebrew word used for love in 5:1 is used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, and in those instances is very clearly in the context of romantic lovers spending the night together.

The Bloch translation manages to capture the mystery, the beauty, the sensuality of the language, in a way that is fresh, readable, and true to the Hebrew.

The Blochs' translation is concise, elegant, and strikes the right balance between contemporary explicitness and classical reserve. Some of the textual choices are debatable, and the translation often departs from literalness, sometimes omitting entire lines -- but the overall result is fresh and exciting; this nuanced rendition really brings the Song to life.

One thing to be aware of is that, other than the poem itself, a brief introduction, and some brief remarks by Robert Alter, the text consists mostly of very detailed translators' notes analyzing the verses line by line, even word by word. This material will be of interest to scholars of ancient Hebrew but perhaps not to the general reader. I read the book (sans notes) in about forty minutes -- and I have to wonder if I should have paid [amt] for the privelege. Nothing against the Blochs or their fine work, but I would have preferred more supporting material of more general interest.

How wonderful you are, O Love,
how much sweeter
than all other pleasures!

But to try to quote from the Song is like hunting for a rabbit's foot. Or trying to cook only a spoonful of soup. The lovers are stoked with the such desperate passion, that no matter the circumstance, the politic, or the law, they bestow on themselves and, now, thanks to the translation, on us, a profound innocence. In that split moment before tears begin to well. Before pain is translated into reaction. Or desire hits the brain. No wonder the Song flaunts such a pure animal presence. The lovers living between the heartbeats. I can see the Shulamite stealthing around the city at night. Silent, almost rolling, footsteps. The lovers collision always in the softlight of dawn. The air cold.

Hurry, my love! Run away,
my gazelle, my wild stag
on the hills of cinnamon.

Song of Songs - A New Translation by Bloch & Bloch

This is a translation and commentary which in many ways had to wait for the day in which we are living. For this is a day when the exchange of information is at an all time high. This is a day when information concerning historical and cultural context is at a maximum, but perhaps more than anything, this is a day, when the paradigms have shifted enough to make women real people, and the exploration and revelation of physical passion within the pages of the Scriptures, a real possibility.

The power of this book, both as translation, and commentary is that it is so free of religious prejudice, prudery and preconception. Religious preconception in translation always and everywhere prevents God from getting through to where people live in language and imagery that they/we can understand. In short, religious preconception is the greatest enemy of divine conception. The two authors, have done everything in their power to allow the Scripture to say what it was meant to say, say it with passion, and in a way that anyone who has ever lived and loved can understand.

So far from bringing just another pious agenda to the task, they have done all that they could to dismiss such a possibility, exploring just about every possible reason for this book's inclusion in the cannon of Scripture, except the possibility that God put it there in order to communicate a love that transcends the physical. This is to say, that the authors are so carnally minded in the highest sense of the word, that their motives are pure, and so is their translation. It finally allows the creation to do what Romans One tells us it was designed to do from the beginning, particularly in the creation of male and female.

Written necessarily from a very Jewish perspective, how else could there be such delicious understanding of the sensual aesthetics and economy of the Hebrew poetic form. Their translation finally provides us with the bedrock of passion that the New Testament tells us was written down for our instruction on whom the end of the age has come.

More than this, they have allowed us to have the foundational clues so necessary to unlock the great mystery of the Scriptures, which is that they are all about Christ, the Christ who is incomplete without His Church. At last armed with what He has truly said, perhaps we can discover what He is truly after. For surely this has been a great mystery, Christ and His Church. Now she might fully know the intention that she had in the heart of her lover on the day He said, "I love you" from the tree.

Jay Ferris - September, 2000

You want to be scholarly and sexy all at once? Looking for the perfect book for an important anniversary or a gift for that intellectual you have your eye on? Look no further.
The very first verse sets the tone:
"Kiss me, make me drunk with your kisses!
Your sweet loving
Is better than wine."
In their introduction, the Blochs note that the woman's viewpoint predominates in this amazing collection of love poems. Most of the lines are hers and she is more forceful than her lover. the two of them live in an earthly paradise, thriving in nature, exulting in their youthful sexuality.
Later of course, the rabbis justified this book's inclusion in the biblical canon by pretending it was an allegory of love between God and the Jewish people or the Jewish people and the Torah. Christianity saw it as an allegory of the love between Jesus and the church or somesuch nonesense.
This translation casts aside these perversions and reclaims this wonderful celebration of human sexuality for what it is. I can't recommend it too highly.
For more on me and my book, The Nazi Hunter: A Novelgo to www.alanelsner.com.

This book of the Old Testament is first of all a beautiful poem. The subject is love, love for a woman and love for a man. It is the love song of two lovers.

It is never erotic or pornographic, but always poetic. That is probably why it was used over and over again by composers in vespers dedicated to the Holy Virgin, particularly the first poem : « I am black but lovely, daughters of Jerusalem » with the famous songs « Nigra sum » and « Pulchra es ».

This book has always been considered by the Catholics as an emanation of King Solomon and as prophecy about the coming of Jesus, about the Holy Virgin.

It is of course possible to see a metaphor in that lovesong, the Bride being Israel, the people of God, who have neglected their vineyard and were punished for it, who have sinned and are now repenting after the fair punishment. Then the Bridegroom is God himself.

But what remains - above and after all - is the marvellous poetic language to describe love and the loved ones. It is probably the Book that demonstrates best the fact that the Bible is speaking of real men and women and not of unreal, virtual ones. They believe in God, which gives them a higher vision and deeper meaning, but they remain human with their attachment to love, justice and peace, the three main virtues Jesus will bring us in the New Testament.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

This translation has some problems. It is a bit bland compared to the King James. The translators are known more for their work with Modern Hebrew poetry and their style doesn't really fit here. On the other hand, the commentary, while not without flaw, is consistently enlightening, as is the essay at the end by Robert Alter.

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