1 The song of songs, which is Solomon's.

² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.

³ Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

⁴ Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

⁵ I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

⁶ Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

⁷ Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

⁸ If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.

⁹ I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.

¹⁰ Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.

¹¹ We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.

¹² While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.

¹³ A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.

¹⁴ My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.

¹⁵ Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.

¹⁶ Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.

¹⁷ The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

2 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

² As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

³ As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

⁴ He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

⁵ Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

⁶ His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

⁷ I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

⁸ The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

⁹ My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

¹⁰ My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

¹¹ For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

¹² The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

¹³ The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

¹⁴ O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

¹⁵ Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.

¹⁷ Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

3 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

² I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

³ The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

⁴ It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

⁵ I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

⁶ Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

⁷ Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

⁸ They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

⁹ King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

¹⁰ He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹¹ Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

¹⁶ He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die.

¹⁷ He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

¹⁸ Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

¹⁹ A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.

²⁰ Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.

²¹ There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.

²² The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar.

²³ The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

²⁴ A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

²⁵ Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.

²⁶ He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach.

²⁷ Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

²⁸ An ungodly witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity.

²⁹ Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.

Read full chapter