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The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

Beloved

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth;
    for your love is better than wine.
Your oils have a pleasing fragrance.
    Your name is oil poured out,
    therefore the virgins love you.
Take me away with you.
    Let’s hurry.
    The king has brought me into his rooms.

Friends

We will be glad and rejoice in you.
    We will praise your love more than wine!

Beloved

They are right to love you.
I am dark, but lovely,
    you daughters of Jerusalem,
    like Kedar’s tents,
    like Solomon’s curtains.
Don’t stare at me because I am dark,
    because the sun has scorched me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me.
    They made me keeper of the vineyards.
    I haven’t kept my own vineyard.
Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
    where you graze your flock,
    where you rest them at noon;
    for why should I be as one who is veiled
    beside the flocks of your companions?

Lover

If you don’t know, most beautiful among women,
    follow the tracks of the sheep.
    Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.

I have compared you, my love,
    to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
    your neck with strings of jewels.

Friends

11 We will make you earrings of gold,
    with studs of silver.

Beloved

12 While the king sat at his table,
    my perfume spread its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh,
    that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
    from the vineyards of En Gedi.

Lover

15 Behold,[a] you are beautiful, my love.
    Behold, you are beautiful.
    Your eyes are like doves.

Beloved

16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant;
    and our couch is verdant.

Lover

17 The beams of our house are cedars.
    Our rafters are firs.

Footnotes

  1. 1:15 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.

note: Among the multitudes who read the Bible there are comparatively few who have a clear understanding of the Song of Solomon. Some have thought it to be a collection of songs, but it is more generally understood to be a sort of drama, the positive interpretation of which is impossible because the identity of the speakers and the length of the speeches are not disclosed.

The song of songs [the most excellent of them all] which is Solomon’s.(A)

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! [she cries. Then, realizing that Solomon has arrived and has heard her speech, she turns to him and adds] For your love is better than wine!

[And she continues] The odor of your ointments is fragrant; your name is like perfume poured out. Therefore do the maidens love you.

Draw me! We will run after you! The king brings me into his apartments! We will be glad and rejoice in you! We will recall [when we were favored with] your love, more fragrant than wine. The upright [are not offended at your choice, but sincerely] love you.

I am so black; but [you are] lovely and pleasant [the ladies assured her]. O you daughters of Jerusalem, [I am as dark] as the tents of [the Bedouin tribe] Kedar, like the [beautiful] curtains of Solomon!

[Please] do not look at me, [she said, for] I am swarthy. [I have worked out] in the sun and it has left its mark upon me. My stepbrothers were angry with me, and they made me keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard [my complexion] I have not kept.

[Addressing her shepherd, she said] Tell me, O [a]you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon. For why should I [as I think of you] be as a veiled one straying beside the flocks of your companions?(B)

If you do not know [where your lover is], O you fairest among women, run along, follow the tracks of the flock, and [amuse yourself by] pasturing your kids beside the shepherds’ tents.

O my love [he said as he saw her], you remind me of my [favorite] mare in the chariot spans of Pharaoh.

10 Your cheeks are comely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.

11 We will make for you chains and ornaments of gold, studded with silver.

12 While the king sits at his table [she said], my spikenard [my absent lover] sends forth [his] fragrance [over me].

13 My beloved [shepherd] is to me like a [scent] bag of myrrh that lies in my bosom.

14 My beloved [shepherd] is to me a cluster of henna flowers in the vineyards of En-gedi [famed for its fragrant shrubs].

15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love! Behold, you are beautiful! You have doves’ eyes.

16 [She cried] Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved [shepherd], yes, delightful! Our arbor and couch are green and leafy.

17 The beams of our house are cedars, and our rafters and panels are cypresses or pines.

Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 1:7 Does my spirit crave the Divine Shepherd, even in the presence of the best that the world can offer me?