Song of Songs 2:1–3
The "rose of Sharon" and the lily
"I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys": the woman speaks of herself (the next verse answers her with a feminine address). The flower names are uncertain: the library's Greek and the Vulgate translate "Sharon" as "the plain" or "the field" ("flower of the field"). The "apple tree" of v. 3 is also unidentified.
Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Unknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)
The poem as first composed
No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of the Song are four Qumran manuscripts: 4Q106, 4Q107, 4Q108 (Cave 4) and 6Q6 (Cave 6), late 1st century BC to 1st century AD (reported).
Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Ego flos campi, et lilium convallium. Sicut lilium inter spinas, sic amica mea inter filias. Sicut malus inter ligna silvarum, sic dilectus meus inter filios. Sub umbra illius quem desideraveram sedi, et fructus ejus dulcis gutturi meo.
Latin numbering: Song 2:1–3. Jerome translated the Song from Hebrew (c. AD 390s); the Clementine edition prints the title outside the verses and joins English 1:1-2.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
אֲנִי֙ חֲבַצֶּ֣לֶת הַשָּׁר֔וֹן שֽׁוֹשַׁנַּ֖ת הָעֲמָקִֽים׃ כְּשֽׁוֹשַׁנָּה֙ בֵּ֣ין הַחוֹחִ֔ים כֵּ֥ן רַעְיָתִ֖י בֵּ֥ין הַבָּנֽוֹת׃ כְּתַפּ֙וּחַ֙ בַּעֲצֵ֣י הַיַּ֔עַר כֵּ֥ן דּוֹדִ֖י בֵּ֣ין הַבָּנִ֑ים בְּצִלּוֹ֙ חִמַּ֣דְתִּי וְיָשַׁ֔בְתִּי וּפִרְי֖וֹ מָת֥וֹק לְחִכִּֽי׃
I am a crocus (?) of the Sharon, a lily of the valleys. Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the daughters.
Hebrew numbering: Song 2:1–3.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872
Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Je suis la fleur des champs et le lis des vallées. Comme le lis des vallées au milieu des épines, est ainsi ma bien-aimée au milieu des jeunes filles. Comme le pommier parmi les arbres de la forêt, ainsi est mon frère bien-aimé parmi les jeunes hommes. J’ai désiré son ombre, et je m’y suis assise, et son fruit est doux à mon palais.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Song 2:1–3. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). Giguet also inserts speaker labels such as (Épouse) and (Époux); these are interpretation, not Greek text. A C check needs a critical Greek edition.
What changed, and why
Chavatstselet appears elsewhere only in Isaiah 35:1. Proposals: crocus, narcissus, asphodel, the sea daffodil of the coastal plain. Shoshannah: lily, lotus, or another bright flower. "Rose" is an English tradition, not a botanical identification.
Christian hymns call Jesus "the Rose of Sharon" and "the Lily of the Valley." In the Hebrew the woman says these words of herself; the man then calls her a lily among thorns, and she calls him an apple tree among the trees.
The exchange shows the Song's pattern of matched, mutual praise.
What the evidence shows
- The "rose of Sharon" is a rose.
- In 2:1 the woman speaks. 2:2 answers with a feminine address.
- Greek and Latin read "flower of the field."
Sources
Related lessons
- Song of Songs 2: The Voice of My Beloved →The woman calls herself "the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys" (2:1); he answers, "As the lily among thorns, so is my love" (v. 2); she replies that he is like an apple tree among the trees of the wood (v. 3). He brings her to the "banqueting house" (literally "house of wine"); she is faint with love; she charges the daughters of Jerusalem "by the roes, and by the hinds of the field" not to stir up love until it pleases (vv. 4–7). Her beloved comes leaping over the hills and calls her out: "the winter is past… the time of the singing of birds is come" (vv. 8–13). He longs to see her face and hear her voice (v. 14); someone calls, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines" (v. 15). She declares, "My beloved is mine, and I am his" (v. 16), and sends him off until day breaks (v. 17).
- Investigation: The Garden and Its Fragrances →The Song names more plants and aromatics than any other book of the Bible: some native (pomegranate, fig, vine, palm, henna, lily), some imported from Arabia, Africa and India (myrrh, frankincense, nard, cinnamon, calamus, aloes-wood, saffron). This investigation identifies what can be identified, says which names are uncertain, and explains the trade behind the luxury.
- Investigation: The Song's Afterlife →For most of its history the Song has been read as a song of divine love: God and Israel in Judaism; Christ and the church, or Christ and the soul, in Christianity. This investigation sets the main readers in order, with dates, so that later interpretations are not projected back onto the ancient poem and the poem is not stripped of its long religious life.