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This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonderful than any other.

Young Woman[a]

Kiss me and kiss me again,
    for your love is sweeter than wine.
How pleasing is your fragrance;
    your name is like the spreading fragrance of scented oils.
    No wonder all the young women love you!
Take me with you; come, let’s run!
    The king has brought me into his bedroom.

Young Women of Jerusalem

How happy we are for you, O king.
    We praise your love even more than wine.

Young Woman

How right they are to adore you.

I am dark but beautiful,
    O women of Jerusalem—
dark as the tents of Kedar,
    dark as the curtains of Solomon’s tents.
Don’t stare at me because I am dark—
    the sun has darkened my skin.
My brothers were angry with me;
    they forced me to care for their vineyards,
    so I couldn’t care for myself—my own vineyard.

Tell me, my love, where are you leading your flock today?
    Where will you rest your sheep at noon?
For why should I wander like a prostitute[b]
    among your friends and their flocks?

Young Man

If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman,
    follow the trail of my flock,
    and graze your young goats by the shepherds’ tents.
You are as exciting, my darling,
    as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.
10 How lovely are your cheeks;
    your earrings set them afire!
How lovely is your neck,
    enhanced by a string of jewels.
11 We will make for you earrings of gold
    and beads of silver.

Young Woman

12 The king is lying on his couch,
    enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume.
13 My lover is like a sachet of myrrh
    lying between my breasts.
14 He is like a bouquet of sweet henna blossoms
    from the vineyards of En-gedi.

Young Man

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

Young Woman

16 You are so handsome, my love,
    pleasing beyond words!
The soft grass is our bed;
17     fragrant cedar branches are the beams of our house,
    and pleasant smelling firs are the rafters.

Footnotes

  1. 1:1 The headings identifying the speakers are not in the original text, though the Hebrew usually gives clues by means of the gender of the person speaking.
  2. 1:7 Hebrew like a veiled woman.

Title

The Most Beautiful Song by Solomon.

The Loved One

Let him kiss me over and over again![a]
    Your love is better than wine.
The fragrance of your perfumed oil is wonderful.
    Your name is perfume poured out.
        Therefore the young women love you.
Take me with[b] you! Let’s run away!
    Let the king bring me into his private chambers.

The Young Women

The daughters[c] of Jerusalem[d] will rejoice and be happy for you.
    We will value your love more than wine.
        They love you appropriately.

The Loved One

The daughters[e] of Jerusalem, I’m dark and lovely
    like the tents of Kedar,
        like the curtains of Solomon.
Don’t stare at me because I’m dark;
    the sun has tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me.
    They made me the caretaker of the vineyards,
        but I didn’t take care of my own vineyard.

Tell me, you whom I love,
    where do you graze your flock?
        Where do you make your flock lie down[f] at noon?
Why should I be considered a veiled woman[g]
    beside the flocks of your companions?

The Lover

If you don’t know, most beautiful of women,
    go out after the flock and graze your young goats beside the shepherd’s tents.
My darling, I compare you to a[h] mare
    among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
    your neck with strings of jewels.

The Young Women

11 We will make ornaments of gold for you,
    accented with silver.

The Loved One

12 While the king was sitting at his table,
    my perfume sent forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh[i]
    that lies between my breasts all night.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna[j] blossoms
    in the vineyards of En-gedi.

The Lover

15 Look at you! You are beautiful, my darling.
    Look at you! You are so beautiful.
        Your eyes are doves.

The Loved One

16 Look at you! You are handsome, my beloved, truly lovely.
    How lush is our couch.
17 The beams of our house are cedar,[k]
    our rafters are pine.

Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 1:2 Lit. me with the kisses of his mouth
  2. Song of Solomon 1:4 Lit. Draw me after
  3. Song of Solomon 1:4 Or The young women
  4. Song of Solomon 1:4 The Heb. lacks daughters of Jerusalem (cf. v. 5)
  5. Song of Solomon 1:5 Or The young women
  6. Song of Solomon 1:7 Lit. where do you make to lie down
  7. Song of Solomon 1:7 I.e. a prostitute
  8. Song of Solomon 1:9 Lit. my
  9. Song of Solomon 1:13 I.e. a fragrant spice used as a perfume
  10. Song of Solomon 1:14 I.e. an aromatic shrub used cosmetically
  11. Song of Solomon 1:17 I.e. a genus of coniferous evergreen in the family Pinaceae; and so throughout the book