Song of Solomon 1-2
Easy-to-Read Version
1 Solomon’s Most Wonderful Song.
The Woman to the Man She Loves
2 Cover me with kisses,
for your love is better than wine.
3 Your perfume smells wonderful,
but your name[a] is sweeter than the best perfume.
That is why the young women love you.
4 Take me with you.
Let’s run away.
The king took me into his room.
The Women of Jerusalem to the Man
We will rejoice and be happy for you.
Remember, your love is better than wine.
With good reason, the young women love you.
She Speaks to the Women
5 Daughters of Jerusalem,
I am dark and beautiful,
as black as the tents of Kedar and Salma.[b]
6 Don’t look at how dark I am,
at how dark the sun has made me.
My brothers were angry with me.
They forced me to take care of their vineyards,
so I could not take care of myself.[c]
She Speaks to Him
7 I love you with all my soul!
Tell me, where do you feed your sheep?
Where do you lay them down at noon?
I should come to be with you
or I will be like a hired woman[d] caring for the sheep of your friends.
He Speaks to Her
8 You are such a beautiful woman.
Surely you know what to do.
Go, follow the sheep.
Feed your young goats near the shepherds’ tents.
9 My darling, you are more exciting to me
than any mare among the stallions[e] pulling Pharaoh’s chariots.[f]
10 Your cheeks are so beautiful
with those ornaments hanging beside them.
Your neck is so lovely
under that beautiful string of jewels.
11 Let’s make you some more gold jewelry
and decorate it with silver.
She Speaks
12 The smell of my perfume reaches out
to the king lying on his couch.
13 My lover is like the small bag of myrrh around my neck,
lying all night between my breasts.
14 My lover is like a bunch of henna flowers
near the vineyards of En Gedi.
He Speaks
15 My darling, you are so beautiful!
Oh, you are beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves.
She Speaks
16 You are so handsome, my lover!
Yes, and so charming!
Our bed is so fresh and pleasant.[g]
17 The beams of our house are cedar.
The rafters are fir.
He Speaks
2 My darling, among other women,
you are like a lily among thorns!
She Speaks
3 My lover, among other men,
you are an apple tree among the wild trees in the forest!
She Speaks to the Women
I enjoy sitting in my lover’s shadow;
his fruit is so sweet to my taste.
4 My lover took me to the wine house;
his intent toward me was love.
5 Strengthen me with raisins[j];
refresh me with apples, because I am weak with love.[k]
6 My lover’s left arm is under my head,
and his right arm holds me.
7 Women of Jerusalem, promise me by the gazelles and wild deer,
don’t awaken love,
don’t arouse love, until I am ready.[l]
She Speaks Again
8 I hear my lover’s voice.
Here it comes, jumping over the mountains,
skipping over the hills.
9 My lover is like a gazelle
or a young deer.
Look at him standing behind our wall,
staring out the window,
looking through the lattice.[m]
10 My lover speaks to me,
“Get up, my darling, my beautiful one.
Let’s go away!
11 Look, winter is past,
the rains have come and gone.
12 The flowers are blooming in the fields.
It’s time to sing![n]
Listen, the doves have returned.
13 Young figs are growing on the fig trees.
Smell the vines in bloom.
Get up, my darling, my beautiful one.
Let’s go away!”
He Speaks
14 My dove, hiding in the caves high on the cliff,
hidden here on the mountain,
let me see you,
let me hear your voice.
Your voice is so pleasant,
and you are so beautiful!
She Speaks to the Women
15 Catch the foxes for us—
the little foxes
that spoil the vineyard.
Our vineyard is now in bloom.
16 My lover is mine,
and I am his!
My lover feeds among the lilies,
17 while the day breathes its last breath
and the shadows run away.
Turn, my lover,
be like a gazelle or a young deer on the cleft mountains![o]
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 1:3 name In Hebrew this word sounds like the word “perfume.”
- Song of Solomon 1:5 Kedar and Salma Arabian tribes. For “Salma” the standard Hebrew text has “Solomon,” but compare “Salma, Salmon” in Ruth 4:20-21.
- Song of Solomon 1:6 myself Literally, “my own vineyard.”
- Song of Solomon 1:7 hired woman Or “a woman wearing a veil.” This might mean a prostitute.
- Song of Solomon 1:9 mare … stallions Female and male horses. Only male horses were used to pull chariots.
- Song of Solomon 1:9 Literally, “To a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots I compare you, my darling.”
- Song of Solomon 1:16 fresh and pleasant Or “lush and green” like a fresh field of grass.
- Song of Solomon 2:1 rose … Sharon Or “a crocus on the plain.”
- Song of Solomon 2:1 lily A kind of flower. Here, it is probably a red flower. Also in 5:13.
- Song of Solomon 2:5 raisins Or “raisin cakes.”
- Song of Solomon 2:5 I am weak with love Or “I am lovesick.”
- Song of Solomon 2:7 until I am ready Literally, “until it desires.”
- Song of Solomon 2:9 lattice A wooden screen over a window.
- Song of Solomon 2:12 sing Or “prune.”
- Song of Solomon 2:17 the cleft mountains Or “the mountains of Bether” or “the mountains of spice.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
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