The Song of Songs

In their lyrical new translation of the Song of Songs, Ariel Bloch and Chana Bloch restore the sensuousness of the original in language that is rich, joyous, and passionate. Scrupulously faithful to the Hebrew text, the Blochs strip away the veils of mistranslation that have obscured this great love poem to reveal it in all its magical freshness. In her Introduction, Chana Bloch reflects on the centrality of women in the Song and on the role of King Solomon. She discusses the poem's authorship and date, as well as the tortuous (and often amusing) history of misinterpretation, and suggests how such an unabashedly secular work came to be included in the canon of Holy Scripture. Ariel Bloch's Commentary offers imaginative new readings of passages that have puzzled exegetes for centuries. In his Afterword, the biblical scholar Robert Alter surveys the newly revealed sensuousness of the poem's erotic landscape.