Song of Solomon 1

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

The First Song

²Your lips cover me with kisses;

your love is better than wine.

³There is a fragrance about you;

the sound of your name recalls it.

No woman could help loving you.

⁴Take 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!

⁵Women of Jerusalem, I am dark but^b beautiful,

dark as the desert tents of Kedar,

but beautiful as the curtains in Solomon’s palace.

⁶Don’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.

⁷Tell 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

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

Go and follow the flock;

find pasture for your goats

near the tents of the shepherds.

⁹You, my love, excite men

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

¹⁰Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks

and falls along your neck like jewels.

¹¹But we will make for you a chain of gold

with ornaments of silver.

¹²My king was lying on his couch,

and my perfume filled the air with fragrance.

¹³My lover has the scent of myrrh

as he lies upon my breasts.

¹⁴My lover is like the wild flowers

that bloom in the vineyards at Engedi.

¹⁵How beautiful you are, my love;

how your eyes shine with love!

¹⁶How handsome you are, my dearest;

how you delight me!

The green grass will be our bed;

¹⁷the cedars will be the beams of our house,

and the cypress trees the ceiling.