Song of Songs: English Translations and Commentaries

I recommend the following translations and commentaries for the English-speaking student of Song of Songs.

For a fuller bibliography, please consult my bibliography for the history of interpretation of the Song of Songs.

Bibliography

Bloch, Ariel and Chana Bloch. The Song of Songs: A new translation with an introduction and commentary. Afterword by Robert Alter. 1st ed. New York: Random House, 1995.

Bloch and Bloch provide an excellent translation with poetic sensitivity. They also provide a well-done and useful commentary on the Hebrew text.

Falk, Marcia. Song of Songs. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990.

Marcia Falk is an accomplished poet in Hebrew and English. This is a marvelous translation of the Song of Songs into English poetry, with the intent of preserving the flavor of the original Hebrew poetry. This edition is a revision of her Love lyrics from the Bible (1982).

Murphy, Roland Edmund. The Song of Songs: A commentary on the Book of Canticles or the Song of Songs. Edited by S. Dean McBride, Jr. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.

This is a very useful, scholarly commentary on the Hebrew text.

Pope, Marvin H. Song of Songs: A new translation with introduction and commentary. Anchor Bible. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977.

This is the classic, scholarly, English commentary on Song of Songs. A massive tome, it will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about love, dogs, and death.

Rosenberg, A.J., editor. Five Megilloth: a new English translation.. Translation of text, Rashi, and other commentaries by Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg. Volume 1. New York: Judaica Press, 1992.

This volume contains the Rabbinic Bible for The Song of Songs (in Hebrew and Aramaic). It includes an English translation of the Biblical text, the Targum, Rashi, and a digest of selected commentary from other Rabbinic sources in the Rabbinic Bible.


Last Modified: 21 September 2020
Jay Treat