The Canticle of Canticles of our Douay version very literally represents a Hebrew superlative. We could translate it ‘the most lovely song’ or the ‘fairest of songs'. Over the centuries innumerable books have been written about this great poem. There has been, and there still is, much disagreement about its interpretation; there is no disagreement about its consummate beauty. But there is far more than beauty, for the book is part of scripture and as such is inspired or has a divine character. The more central Hebrew tradition was firm about this. Rabbi Akibah, about A.D. 130, wrote: ‘No one in Israel has ever questioned the Canticle's divine character; indeed the whole world is not worth the day on which the Canticle of Canticles was bestowed upon Israel. All the books of scripture are holy, but the Canticles most holy.’ (Yadaim 3, 5.) The Church teaches that Canticles is part of scripture, and that teaching can be traced to the list of scripture compiled by St Cyril of Jerusalem, when Canticles is explicitly mentioned.