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LXX Song of Songs

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 1

1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon's. 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for your breasts are better than wine.⁠ 3 And the smell of your ointments is better than all spices: your name is ointment poured forth; therefore do the young maidens love you. 4 They have drawn you: we will run after you, for the smell of your ointments: the king has brought me into his chamber: let us rejoice and be glad in you; we will love your breasts more than wine: righteousness loves you. 5 I am black, but beautiful, you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 6 Do not look at me, because I am dark, because the sun has looked unfavourably upon me: my mother's sons strove with me; they made me keeper in the vineyards; I have not kept my own vineyard. 7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you tend your flock, where you cause them to rest at noon, so that I do not become as one that is veiled by the flocks of your companions. 8 If you do not know yourself, you fair one among women, go forth by the footsteps of the flocks, and feed your kids by the shepherd's tents. 9 I have likened you, my companion, to my horses in the chariots of Pharaoh. 10 How are your cheeks beautiful as those of a dove, your neck as chains! 11 We will make you figures of gold with studs of silver. 12 So long as the king was at table, my spikenard gave forth its smell.⁠ 13 My relative is to me a bundle of myrrh; he shall lie between my breasts. 14 My relative is to me a cluster of camphor in the vineyards of En Gedi. 15 Look, you are fair, my companion; look, you are fair; your eyes are doves. 16 Look, you are fair, my relative, yes, beautiful, overshadowing our bed. 17 The beams of our house are cedars, our ceilings are of cypress.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Song of Songs 1:12 and John 12:3

Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

John 12 describes a moment where perfume fills the house as Jesus reclines at the table, a detail that parallels the language from the Greek Septuagint translation of Song of Songs, showing how the New Testament often relies on Greek translations.

Passages

LXX Song of Songs 1:12

Septuagint
10 How are your cheeks beautiful as those of a dove, your neck as chains! 11 We will make you figures of gold with studs of silver. 12 So long as the king was at table, my spikenard gave forth its smell. 13 My relative is to me a bundle of myrrh; he shall lie between my breasts. 14 My relative is to me a cluster of camphor in the vineyards of En Gedi.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Song of Songs

John 12:3

New Testament
3 Then Mary took three quarters of a pound of expensive aromatic oil from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus. She then wiped his feet dry with her hair. (Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil.) 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was going to betray him) said, 5 “Why wasn’t this oil sold for 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor?” 6 (Now Judas said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box, he used to steal what was put into it.) 7 So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has kept it for the day of my burial.
90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

References

"... it is argued that the anointing of Jesus at Bethany (Jn 12.1-8) is intentionally evoking Song 1.12: ‘while the king was at his table, my perfume gave forth its fragrance.’ The resonances are based on the Septuagintal text rather than occurring at the level of the Hebrew text. This is perfectly plausible. Suffice to note that in the Septuagint the Greek term for perfume is νάρδος (LXX Song 1.12). This is the same term used to describe the perfume or nard with which Mary anointed Jesus at Bethany. The other shared term in the two verses is the word ὀσμή, for ‘fragrance’ or ‘odour’. These two words that are in common do not occur in direct sequence, but have a number of intervening words between them. Thus the terminological connection is not strong. However, on the basis of these two verbal parallels it is claimed that, ‘[i]n John 12:3 an allusion to Song 1:12 portrays Jesus as the bridegroom-Messiah facing crucifixion’ (McWhirter 2006: 79). While the anointing in John’s Gospel may have some messianic overtones, although the text presents this as proleptic preparation for burial, in Song 1.12 the perfume is perhaps metaphorical of an alluring fragrance ..."
P. Foster, “Echoes without Refernce: Critiquing Certain Aspects of Recent Scholarly Trends in the Study of the Jewish Scriptures in the New Testament,” JSNT 38.1 (2015): 96–111.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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LXX Song of Songs 1:12 and John 12:3

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