Song of Solomon 1–8

1The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.^a

Woman

²Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your caresses^A are more delightful than wine.^b

³The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating;^c

your name is perfume poured out.^d

No wonder young women^B adore you.

⁴Take me with you^e—let’s hurry.

Oh, that the king would bring^C me to his chambers.

Young Women

We will rejoice and be glad in you;

we will celebrate your caresses more than wine.

Woman

It is only right that they adore you.

⁵Daughters of Jerusalem,^f

I am dark like the tents of Kedar,^g

yet lovely^h like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not stare at me because I am dark,

for the sun has gazed on me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me;ⁱ

they made me take care of the vineyards.^j

I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

⁷Tell me, you whom I love:^k

Where do you pasture your sheep?^l

Where do you let them rest at noon?^m

Why should I be like one who veils herself^D

beside the flocks of your companions?ⁿ

Man^E

⁸If you do not know,

most beautiful of women,^o

follow^F the tracks of the flock,

and pasture your young goats

near the shepherds’ tents.

⁹I compare you, my darling,^p

to a^G mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.^q

¹⁰Your cheeks are beautiful with jewelry,^r

your neck with its necklace.

¹¹We will make gold jewelry for you,

accented with silver.

Woman

¹²While the king is on his couch,^H

my perfume^A releases its fragrance.^s

¹³The one I love is a sachet of myrrh to me,^t

spending the night between my breasts.

¹⁴The one I love is a cluster of henna blossoms to me,^u

in the vineyards of En-gedi.^v

Man

¹⁵How beautiful you are, my darling.

How very beautiful!

Your eyes are doves.^w

Woman

¹⁶How handsome you are, my love.^x

How delightful!

Our bed is verdant;

¹⁷the beams of our house are cedars,

and our rafters are cypresses.^B

2I am a wildflower^C of Sharon,

a lily^D of the valleys.^y

Man

²Like a lily among thorns,

so is my darling among the young women.

Woman

³Like an apricot^E tree among the trees of the forest,

so is my love among the young men.

I delight to sit in his shade,

and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

⁴He brought me to the banquet hall,^Fa

and he looked on me with love.^Gb

⁵Sustain me with raisins;

refresh me with apricots,^H

for I am lovesick.^c

⁶May his left hand be under my head,

and his right arm embrace me.^d

⁷Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you

by the gazelles and the wild does of the field,

do not stir up or awaken love

until the appropriate time.^Ie

⁸Listen! My love is approaching.

Look! Here he comes,

leaping over the mountains,^f

bounding over the hills.

⁹My love is like a gazelle

or a young stag.^g

See, he is standing behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

peering through the lattice.

¹⁰My love calls to me:

Man

Arise,^h my darling.

Come away, my beautiful one.

¹¹For now the winter is past;

the rain has ended and gone away.

¹²The blossoms appear in the countryside.

The time of singing^J has come,

and the turtledove’s cooing is heard in our land.ⁱ

¹³The fig tree ripens its figs;^j

the blossoming vines give off their fragrance.^k

Arise, my darling.

Come away, my beautiful one.

¹⁴My dove,^l in the clefts of the rock,^m

in the crevices of the cliff,

let me see your face,^A

let me hear your voice;ⁿ

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely.^o

Woman^B

¹⁵Catch the foxes for us^p—

the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—

for our vineyards are in bloom.^q

Woman

¹⁶My love is mine and I am his;^r

he feeds among the lilies.

¹⁷Until the day breaks^C

and the shadows flee,

turn around, my love, and be like a gazelle

or a young stag^s on the divided mountains.^Dt

3In my bed at night^E

I sought the one I love;^u

I sought him, but did not find him.^Fv

²I will arise now and go about the city,

through the streets and the plazas.^w

I will seek the one I love.

I sought him, but did not find him.

³The guards who go about the city found me.^x

I asked them, “Have you seen the one I love?”

⁴I had just passed them

when I found the one I love.

I held on to him and would not let him go

until I brought him to my mother’s house^y—

to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

⁵Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you

by the gazelles and the wild does of the field,

do not stir up or awaken love

until the appropriate time.^Gz

Narrator

⁶Who is this^aa coming up from the wilderness

like columns of smoke,

scented with myrrh and frankincense^ab

from every fragrant powder of the merchant?

⁷Look! Solomon’s bed

surrounded by sixty warriors

from the mighty men of Israel.

⁸All of them are skilled with swords

and trained in warfare.

Each has his sword at his side^ac

to guard against the terror of the night.^ad

⁹King Solomon made a carriage for himself

with wood from Lebanon.

¹⁰He made its posts of silver,

its back^H of gold,

and its seat of purple.

Its interior is inlaid with love^A

by the young women of Jerusalem.^a

¹¹Go out, young women of Zion,^b

and gaze at King Solomon,

wearing the crown his mother placed on him

on the day of his wedding^c—

the day of his heart’s rejoicing.

Man

4How beautiful you are, my darling.

How very beautiful!

Behind your veil,

your eyes are doves.^d

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down Mount Gilead.^e

²Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep

coming up from washing,

each one bearing twins,

and none has lost its young.^Bf

³Your lips are like a scarlet cord,^g

and your mouth^C is lovely.

Behind your veil,

your brow^D is like a slice of pomegranate.^h

⁴Your neck is like the tower of David,ⁱ

constructed in layers.

A thousand shields are hung on it—

all of them shields of warriors.

⁵Your breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle,^j that feed among the lilies.

⁶Until the day breaks^E

and the shadows flee,^k

I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh

and the hill of frankincense.^l

⁷You are absolutely beautiful,^m my darling;

there is no imperfection in you.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon,ⁿ my bride;^o

come with me from Lebanon!

Descend from the peak of Amana,

from the summit of Senir and Hermon,^p

from the dens of the lions,

from the mountains of the leopards.

⁹You have captured my heart,^q my sister,^r my bride.

You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes,

with one jewel of your necklace.

¹⁰How delightful your caresses are, my sister, my bride.

Your caresses are much better than wine,^s

and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.

¹¹Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride.^t

Honey and milk^u are under your tongue.

The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

¹²My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden—

a locked garden^A and a sealed spring.^v

¹³Your branches are a paradise^B of pomegranates

with choicest fruits;^w

henna with nard,

¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,^x

with all the trees of frankincense,^y

myrrh and aloes,^z

with all the best spices.

¹⁵You are a garden spring,

a well of flowing water^aa

streaming from Lebanon.

Woman

¹⁶Awaken,^ab north wind;

come, south wind.

Blow on my garden,

and spread the fragrance of its spices.

Let my love come to his garden

and eat its choicest fruits.^ac

Man

5I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.

I gather^C my myrrh with my spices.

I eat my honeycomb with my honey.

I drink my wine with my milk.

Narrator

Eat, friends!

Drink, be intoxicated with caresses!^Dad

Woman

²I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.

A sound! My love was knocking!^a

Man

Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove, my perfect one.

For my head is drenched with dew,

my hair with droplets of the night.

Woman

³I have taken off my clothing.^b

How can I put it back on?

I have washed my feet.

How can I get them dirty?

⁴My love thrust his hand through the opening,

and my feelings were stirred for him.

⁵I rose to open for my love.

My hands dripped with myrrh,^c

my fingers with flowing myrrh

on the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened to my love,

but my love had turned and gone away.

My heart sank^E because he had left.^F

I sought him, but did not find him.^d

I called him, but he did not answer.

⁷The guards who go about the city found me.^e

They beat and wounded me;

they took my cloak^G from me—

the guardians of the walls.^f

⁸Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,^g

if you find my love,

tell him that I am lovesick.^h

Young Women

⁹What makes the one you love better than another,

most beautiful of women?ⁱ

What makes him better than another,

that you would give us this charge?

Woman

¹⁰My love is fit and strong,^Aj

notable among ten thousand.^k

¹¹His head is purest gold.

His hair is wavy^Bl

and black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves^m

beside flowing streams,

washed in milk

and set like jewels.^C

¹³His cheeksⁿ are like beds of spice,

mounds of^D perfume.

His lips are lilies,

dripping with flowing myrrh.^o

¹⁴His arms^E are rods of gold

set with beryl.^p

His body^G is an ivory panel

covered with lapis lazuli.^q

¹⁵His legs are alabaster pillars

set on pedestals of pure gold.

His presence is like Lebanon,^r

as majestic as the cedars.^s

¹⁶His mouth is sweetness.

He is absolutely desirable.^t

This is my love, and this is my friend,

young women of Jerusalem.

Young Women

6Where has your love gone,

most beautiful of women?

Which way has he^H turned?

We will seek him with you.

Woman

²My love has gone down to his garden,^u

to beds of spice,^v

to feed in the gardens^w

and gather lilies.^x

³I am my love’s and my love is mine;^y

he feeds among the lilies.

Man

⁴You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,

lovely as Jerusalem,

awe-inspiring as an army with banners.^z

⁵Turn your eyes away from me,

for they captivate me.^aa

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down from Gilead.^ab

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

coming up from washing,

each one having a twin,

and not one missing.^Iac

⁷Behind your veil,^ad

your brow^J is like a slice of pomegranate.

⁸There are sixty queens

and eighty concubines^ae

and young women without number.

⁹But my dove,^a my virtuous one, is unique;^b

she is the favorite of her mother,

perfect to the one who gave her birth.

Women see her and declare her fortunate;^c

queens and concubines also, and they sing her…