Song of Solomon 1
English Standard Version
1 The Song of (A)Songs, which is Solomon's.
The Bride Confesses Her Love
She[a]
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your (B)love is better than wine;
3 your (C)anointing oils are fragrant;
your (D)name is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
4 (E)Draw me after you; (F)let us run.
(G)The king has brought me into his chambers.
Others
We will (H)exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol (I)your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.
She
5 I am very dark, but (J)lovely,
O (K)daughters of Jerusalem,
like (L)the tents of (M)Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My (N)mother's sons were angry with me;
they made me (O)keeper of (P)the vineyards,
but (Q)my own vineyard I have not kept!
7 Tell me, you (R)whom my soul loves,
where you (S)pasture your flock,
where you make it (T)lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils herself
beside the flocks of your (U)companions?
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
8 If you do not know,
O (V)most beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your young goats
beside the shepherds' tents.
9 I compare you, (W)my love,
to (X)a mare among Pharaoh's chariots.
10 (Y)Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
Others
11 We will make for you[b] ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
She
12 While (Z)the king was on his couch,
my (AA)nard gave forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of (AB)myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of (AC)henna blossoms
in the vineyards of (AD)Engedi.
He
15 (AE)Behold, (AF)you are beautiful, (AG)my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your (AH)eyes are doves.
She
16 Behold, you are beautiful, (AI)my beloved, truly (AJ)delightful.
Our couch is green;
17 the beams of our house are (AK)cedar;
our rafters are (AL)pine.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 1:2 The translators have added speaker identifications based on the gender and number of the Hebrew words
- Song of Solomon 1:11 The Hebrew for you is feminine singular
Song of Songs 1
EasyEnglish Bible
Love
1 This is Solomon's most beautiful song.
The young woman:
2 Please kiss me with your lips!
Your love makes me happier than wine does.
3 You have put perfume on your body.
It has a lovely smell.
The sound of your name causes pleasure everywhere,
like sweet perfume.
All the young women love you!
4 Take me away with you. Come quickly.
I want the king to take me into his rooms.[a]
The woman's friends:[b]
We are very happy!
You make us happy.
We praise your love,
because it is better than wine.
The young woman:
I agree! The young women are right to praise you like that.
5 Young women of Jerusalem, my skin is dark but I am beautiful.[c]
My skin is dark, like the tents of Kedar.
It is beautiful, like the curtains of King Solomon's tent.
6 The sun has caused my skin to become dark.
Please do not look at me as if I am strange.
My brothers were angry with me.
They caused me to work outside in the sun.
I took care of the vineyards,
and I could not take care of my own vineyard, my body.
7 I love you, my dear one.[d]
Tell me where you take your sheep to eat grass.
Where will you take them to rest at midday?
I do not want to look for you everywhere
among the sheep of your friends.
They might not understand what I am doing.
The man and the woman praise each other
The young man:
8 You are the most beautiful woman of all.
If you do not know where to find me,
follow the marks from the feet of my sheep.
Take your young goats to eat grass
among the tents of the shepherds.
9 My dear friend, you are very beautiful.
You seem to me like a beautiful horse that pulls one of Pharaoh's chariots.
10 Your face is beautiful with jewels.
A necklace makes your neck beautiful too.
11 We will use gold to make ear rings for you,
and we will add pieces of silver.
The young woman:[e]
12 While the king was eating a meal,
the sweet smell of my perfume was in the air.
13 My lover is like a bag of myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
14 He is like a group of henna flowers
that grow in the vineyards at En Gedi.[f]
The young man:
15 My dear friend, I see that you are very beautiful!
Yes, you are beautiful
and your eyes are like doves.
The young woman:
16 My lover, I see that you are very handsome!
Yes, you are lovely!
This field of fresh, green grass is our comfortable bed.
17 The cedar trees above us are the beams of our bedroom.[g]
The pine trees cover us like a roof.
Footnotes
- 1:4 The man may be a king. Or, for the woman, he may be like a king, because she gives him honour.
- 1:4 The woman is with some friends. The women friends are speaking about the man, not about the woman.
- 1:5 The writer calls her friends the ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’. Jerusalem was the capital city where Solomon was king.
- 1:7 The woman now speaks to the man that she loves.
- 1:12 The woman talks to her friends about her time with the man.
- 1:14 Henna is a plant that has a lovely smell. En Gedi is the name of a pool of water in a desert.
- 1:17 Beams are big pieces of wood that the roof is fixed to.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
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