Song of Songs 1

Song of Songs 1 New International Version (NIV)

1 Solomon’s Song of Songs.

She^[a]

²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
    for your love is more delightful than wine.
³Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
    your name is like perfume poured out.
    No wonder the young women love you!
⁴Take me away with you—let us hurry!
    Let the king bring me into his chambers.

Friends

We rejoice and delight in you^[b];
we will praise your love more than wine.

She

How right they are to adore you!

⁵Dark am I, yet lovely,
    daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Kedar,
    like the tent curtains of Solomon.^[c]
⁶Do not stare at me because I am dark,
    because I am darkened by the sun.
My mother’s sons were angry with me
    and made me take care of the vineyards;
    my own vineyard I had to neglect.
⁷Tell me, you whom I love,
    where you graze your flock
    and where you rest your sheep at midday.
Why should I be like a veiled woman
    beside the flocks of your friends?

Friends

⁸If you do not know, most beautiful of women,
follow the tracks of the sheep
and graze your young goats
by the tents of the shepherds.

He

⁹I liken you, my darling, to a mare
    among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.
¹⁰Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
    your neck with strings of jewels.
¹¹We will make you earrings of gold,
    studded with silver.

She

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

He

¹⁵How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.

She

¹⁶How handsome you are, my beloved!
Oh, how charming!
And our bed is verdant.

He

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

Footnotes:

Song of Songs 1:2 The main male and female speakers (identified primarily on the basis of the gender of the relevant Hebrew forms) are indicated by the captions He and She respectively. The words of others are marked Friends. In some instances the divisions and their captions are debatable.
Song of Songs 1:4 The Hebrew is masculine singular.
Song of Songs 1:5 Or Salma