Song of Songs

Song of Songs is a set of love poems between a man and a woman, with alternating voices and a chorus of friends. It never mentions the law, the temple or Israel's history; it speaks of desire, longing, beauty, jealousy and searching. That has produced centuries of debate about how to read it: Jewish and Christian traditions often interpreted it as an allegory of the love between God and his people, while more recent readings stress the plain sense — the Bible celebrates human love without embarrassment. The most quoted verse is near the end: "love is strong as death... many waters can't quench love". It is a frequent wedding reading.