--- Carl Remick <carlremick at gmail.com> wrote:
> Overall I agree with you and find the Bible
> generally a mismash of
> sacralized tribal lore more likely to mislead than
> enlighten. Still,
> I find some scriptural passages beautiful and
> insightful, e.g.:
>
I think Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs are two of the most beautiful things ever written. What's wrong with tribal lore anyway? That's what the Iliad and Gilgamesh are.
1 THE SONG of songs, which is Solomon's.
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth--for thy love is better than wine.
3 Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; thy name is as ointment poured forth; therefore do the maidens love thee.
4 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.
5 'I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6 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.'
7 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?
8 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.
9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.
10 Thy cheeks are comely with circlets, thy neck with beads.
11 We will make thee circlets of gold with studs of silver.
12 While the king sat at his table, my spikenard sent forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is unto me as a bag of myrrh, that lieth betwixt my breasts.
14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna in the vineyards of En-gedi.
15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves.
16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant; also our couch is leafy.
17 The beams of our houses are cedars, and our panels are cypresses.
1 I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
2 As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
3 As an apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. Under its shadow I delighted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He hath brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me is love.
5 'Stay ye me with dainties, refresh me with apples; for I am love-sick.'
6 Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me.
7 'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.'
8 Hark! my beloved! behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh in through the windows, he peereth through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke, and said unto me: 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
13 The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.'
15 'Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom.'
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his, that feedeth among the lilies.
17 Until the day breathe, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
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