Song of Solomon 1:1–4:16

1 * The most beautiful of songs, by Solomon.a

The First Song

The Woman

2 Your lips cover me with kisses;

your love is better than wine.

3 There is a fragrance about you;

the sound of your name recalls it.

No woman could help loving you.

4 Take me with you, and we’ll run away; be my king and take me to your room.

We will be happy together, drink deep, and lose ourselves in love. No wonder all women love you!

5 Women of Jerusalem, I am dark butb beautiful,

dark as the desert tents of Kedar,

but beautiful as the curtains in Solomon’s palace.

6 Don’t look down on me because of my colour,

because the sun has tanned me.

My brothers were angry with me

and made me work in the vineyard.

I had no time to care for myself.

7 Tell me, my love,

Where will you lead your flock to graze?

Where will they rest from the noonday sun?

Why should I need to look for you

among the flocks of the other shepherds?c

The Man

8 Don’t you know the place, loveliest of women?

Go and follow the flock;

find pasture for your goats

near the tents of the shepherds.

9 You, my love, excite men

as a mare excites the stallions of Pharaoh’s chariots.

10 Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks

and falls along your neck like jewels.

11 But we will make for you a chain of gold

with ornaments of silver.

The Woman

12 My king was lying on his couch,

and my perfume filled the air with fragrance.

13 My lover has the scent of myrrh

as he lies upon my breasts.

14 My lover is like the wild flowers

that bloom in the vineyards at Engedi.

The Man

15 How beautiful you are, my love;

how your eyes shine with love!

The Woman

16 How handsome you are, my dearest;

how you delight me!

The green grass will be our bed;

17 the cedars will be the beams of our house,

and the cypress trees the ceiling.

2 I am only a wild flower in Sharon,

a lily in a mountain valley.

The Man

2 Like a lily among thorns

is my darling among women.

The Woman

3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

so is my dearest compared with other men.

I love to sit in its shadow,

and its fruit is sweet to my taste.

4 He brought me to his banqueting hall

and raised the banner of love over me.

5 Restore my strength with raisins

and refresh me with apples!

I am weak from passion.

6 His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand caresses me.

7 Promise me, women of Jerusalem;

swear by the swift deer and the gazelles

that you will not interrupt our love.

The Second Song

The Woman

8 I hear my lover’s voice.

He comes running over the mountains,

racing across the hills to me.

9 My lover is

like a gazelle, like a young stag.

There he stands beside the wall.

He looks in through the window

and glances through the lattice.

10 My lover speaks to me.

The Man

Come then, my love;

my darling, come with me.

11 The winter is over; the rains have stopped;

12 in the countryside the flowers are in bloom.

This is the time for singing;

the song of doves is heard in the fields.

13 Figs are beginning to ripen;

the air is fragrant with blossoming vines.

Come then, my love;

my darling, come with me.

14 You are like a dove that hides

in the crevice of a rock.

Let me see your lovely face

and hear your enchanting voice.

15 Catch the foxes, the little foxes,

before they ruin our vineyard in bloom.

The Woman

16 My lover is mine, and I am his.

He feeds his flock among the lilies

17 until the morning breezes blow

and the darkness disappears.

Return, my darling, like a gazelle,

like a stag on the mountains of Bether.d

3 Asleep on my bed, night after night

I dreamt of the one I love;

I was looking for him, but couldn’t find him.

2 I went wandering through the city,

through its streets and alleys.

I looked for the one I love.

I looked, but couldn’t find him.

3 The watchmen patrolling the city saw me.

I asked them, “Have you found my lover?”

4 As soon as I left them, I found him.

I held him and wouldn’t let him go

until I took him to my mother’s house,

to the room where I was born.

5 Promise me, women of Jerusalem;

swear by the swift deer and the gazelles

that you will not interrupt our love.

The Third Song

The Woman

6 What is this coming from the desert like a column of smoke,

fragrant with incense and myrrh,

the incense sold by the traders?

7 Solomon is coming, carried on his throne;

sixty soldiers form the bodyguard,

the finest soldiers in Israel.

8 All of them are skilful with the sword;

they are battle-hardened veterans.

Each of them is armed with a sword,

on guard against a night attack.

9 King Solomon is carried on a throne

made of the finest wood.

10 Its posts are covered with silver;

over it is cloth embroidered with gold.

Its cushions are covered with purple cloth,

lovingly woven by the women of Jerusalem.

11 Women of Zion, come and see King Solomon.

He is wearing the crown that his mother placed

on his head on his wedding day,

on the day of his gladness and joy.

The Man

4 How beautiful you are, my love!

How your eyes shine with love behind your veil.

Your hair dances, like a flock of goats

bounding down the hills of Gilead.

2 Your teeth are as white as sheep

that have just been shorn and washed.

Not one of them is missing;

they are all perfectly matched.

3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;

how lovely they are when you speak.

Your cheeks glow behind your veil.

4 Your neck is like the tower of David,

round and smooth,e

with a necklace like a thousand shields hung round it.

5 Your breasts are like gazelles,

twin deer feeding among lilies.

6 I will stay on

the hill of myrrh, the hill of incense,

until the morning breezes blow

and the darkness disappears.

7 How beautiful you are, my love;

how perfect you are!

8 Come with me from the Lebanon Mountains, my bride;

come with me from Lebanon.

Come down from the top of Mount Amana,

from Mount Senir and Mount Hermon,

where the lions and leopards live.

9 The look in your eyes, my sweetheart and bride,

and the necklace you are wearing

have stolen my heart.

10 Your love delights me,

my sweetheart and bride.

Your love is better than wine;

your perfume more fragrant than any spice.

11 The taste of honey is on your lips, my darling;

your tongue is milk and honey for me.

Your clothing has all the fragrance of Lebanon.

12 My sweetheart, my bride, is a secret garden,

a walled garden, a private spring;

13 there the plants flourish.

They grow like an orchard of pomegranate trees

and bear the finest fruits.

There is no lack of henna and nard,

14 of saffron, calamus, and cinnamon,

or incense of every kind.

Myrrh and aloes grow there

with all the most fragrant perfumes.

15 Fountains water the garden,

streams of flowing water,

brooks gushing down from the Lebanon Mountains.

The Woman

16 Wake up, North Wind.

South Wind, blow on my garden;

fill the air with fragrance.

Let my lover come to his garden

and eat the best of its fruits.