The Bride Confesses Her Love

She

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine;

your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you.

Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers.

Others

We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you.

She

I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions?

I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots.

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

He

Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.

He

As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women.

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away,

The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

The Bride's Dream

On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.

I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not.

The watchmen found me as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; its interior was inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

Solomon Admires His Bride's Beauty

He

Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.

Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.

How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!