Song of Songs 1
The Young Shulammite Bride and Jerusalem’s Daughters
1The Song of Songs [the best of songs], which is Solomon’s.
2“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” [Solomon arrives, she turns to him, saying,]
“For your love is better than wine.
3The aroma of your oils is fragrant and pleasing;
Your name is perfume poured out;
Therefore the maidens love you.
4Draw me away with you and let us run together!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.”
“We will rejoice and be glad in you;
We will remember and extol your love more [sweet and fragrant] than wine.
Rightly do they love you.”
5“I am deeply tanned but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
[I am dark] like the tents of [the Bedouins of] Kedar,
Like the [beautiful] curtains of Solomon.
6Do not gaze at me because I am deeply tanned,
[I have worked in] the sun; it has left its mark on me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard (my complexion) I have not kept.”
7“Tell me, O you whom my soul loves,
Where do you pasture your flock,
Where do you make it lie down at noon?
For why should I be like one who is veiled
Beside the flocks of your companions?”
Solomon, the Lover, Speaks
8“If you do not know [where your lover is],
O you fairest among women,
Run along, follow the tracks of the flock,
And pasture your young goats
By the tents of the shepherds.
9“To me, my love, you are like
My [favorite] mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.
10Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
Your neck with strings of jewels.”
11“We will make for you chains and ornaments of gold,
[Studded] with beads of silver.”
12“While the king was at his table,
My perfume (Solomon) sent forth [his] fragrance [surrounding me].
13My beloved is to me like a pouch of myrrh
Which lies all night between my breasts.
14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna flowers
In the [fragrant] vineyards of Engedi.”
15“Behold, how beautiful you are, my darling,
Behold, how beautiful you are!
Your eyes are dove’s eyes.”
16“Behold, how fair and handsome you are, my beloved;
And so delightful!
Our arbor is green and luxuriant.
17The beams of our houses are cedars,
Our rafters and panels are cypresses.