Song of Songs 2 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 2:4, 2:7
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 2
Love and the springtime invitation
Hebrew source [BHS2] • Greek source [LXX2]
Verse 2:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:1] I am a crocus of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:1] I am a flower of the plain, a lily of the valleys.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew habatstselet is provisionally crocus; exact species is uncertain. Greek has a generic flower and common noun plain rather than the name Sharon.
Verse 2:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:2] Like a lily among thorns, so is my companion among the daughters.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:2] Like a lily among thorns, so is my companion among the daughters.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The comparison and its terms agree.
Verse 2:3 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:3] Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons. I desired his shade and sat there;
his fruit was sweet to my palate.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:3] Like an apple tree among the trees of the woodland, so is my kinsman among the sons. I desired his shade and sat there;
his fruit was sweet in my throat.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek names the throat where Hebrew names the palate. Apple is a conventional plant identification; the fruit metaphor is not replaced by an allegory.
Verse 2:4 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:4] He brought me into the house of wine, and his banner over me was love.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:4] Bring me into the house of wine;
arrange love over me.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew reports his action and banner; Greek has two plural commands and an act of arranging. These distinct scenes are preserved.
Verse 2:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:5] Support me with raisin cakes, spread apples beneath me, for I am sick with love.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:5] Strengthen me with sweet cakes, heap apples about me, for I am wounded by love.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The published Greek reads amorais, sweet cakes; it is not silently replaced by perfumes found in some reception texts. Hebrew sickness becomes Greek woundedness. The Hebrew spreading verb is rendered concretely rather than reduced to refresh. Rabbinic reception: Rashi connects the spreading verb with bedding and fragrant apples around the sufferer, then interprets the longing as Israel’s thirst for God in exile. [RASHI2]
Verse 2:6 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:6] His left hand is beneath my head, and his right hand embraces me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:6] His left hand is beneath my head, and his right hand will embrace me.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The embrace agrees; Greek uses a future verb.
Verse 2:7 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:7] I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field: do not awaken or stir up love until it wishes.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:7] I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and by the strengths of the field: do not awaken or stir up love until it wishes.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: The Hebrew animals become Greek powers and strengths. The oath's elliptical if-clause is conveyed as a prohibition in both. Love is grammatically feminine; no identification with God is inserted. Rabbinic reception: Rashi reads the appeal as resistance to attempts to alter Israel’s love and takes until as while that love endures. The running translation retains the alternative temporal sense until; this difference is explicit. [RASHI2]
Verse 2:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:8] The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:8] The voice of my kinsman! Look, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The recurring beloved–kinsman distinction remains; the movement agrees.
Verse 2:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:9] My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:9] My kinsman is like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bethel. Look, he stands behind our wall, peering through the windows, looking out through the lattice.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds the mountains of Bethel in this verse. The location is not imported into Hebrew or confused with the different phrase at 2:17.
Verse 2:10 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:10] My beloved answered and said to me: Rise, my companion, my beautiful one, and come away.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:10] My kinsman answers and says to me: Rise, come, my companion, my beautiful one, my dove,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds my dove and uses present speech verbs. No quotation marks implying an externally certain speaker scheme are added.
Verse 2:11 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:11] For look, winter has passed;
the rain has gone, departed.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:11] for look, winter has passed;
the rain has gone, departed,
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both repeat the departure of the rain.
Verse 2:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:12] The blossoms have appeared in the land;
the time of singing has arrived, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:12] the blossoms have appeared in the land;
the time of pruning has arrived;
the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew zamir permits singing or pruning; singing is chosen in light of the adjacent bird's voice. Greek tome explicitly selects cutting or pruning.
Verse 2:13 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:13] The fig tree has ripened its early figs, and the blossoming vines have given fragrance. Rise, my companion, my beautiful one, and come away.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:13] The fig tree has brought forth its early figs;
the vines are flowering and have given fragrance. Rise, come, my companion, my beautiful one, my dove,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek again adds my dove. Hebrew early fruit development and Greek bringing forth are preserved without imposing a modern horticultural stage.
Verse 2:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:14] My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding place of the steep slope, let me see your appearance;
let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your appearance beautiful.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:14] and come, my dove, in the shelter of the rock, close to the outer wall. Show me your appearance and let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your appearance lovely.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek adds and come and places the dove near a defensive outer wall; Hebrew has the hidden steep place. Greek's repeated my dove across the verse boundary remains.
Verse 2:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:15] Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that ruin vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:15] Catch for us the little foxes that destroy vineyards, for our vines are flowering.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek combines the repeated Hebrew foxes into one phrase; the request and threatened blossoms agree.
Verse 2:16 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:16] My beloved is mine, and I am his;
he pastures among the lilies.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:16] My kinsman is mine, and I am his, he who pastures among the lilies,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The Hebrew and Greek pastoral verb may evoke tending or feeding; no unexpressed flock is made certain. Greek continues into the next verse.
Verse 2:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:17] Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved;
be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:17] until the day breathes and the shadows move. Turn back, my kinsman;
be like a gazelle or a young stag upon mountains of hollows.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew Bether is retained as a possible place name, with mountains of division an alternative. Greek has hollows, not Bethel as in its 2:9. Whether the breathing day denotes dawn or evening remains open.