Song of Solomon 1:2–4:16

The Maiden’s Soliloquy

²May^c he kiss me passionately with his lips,^d

for your love is better than wine.^e

³As fragrance, your perfumes^f are delightful;^g

your name is poured out perfume;^h

therefore young women love you.

⁴Draw me after you, let us run!

May the king bring me into his chambers!ⁱ

Let us be joyful and let us rejoice in you;

let us extol your love more than wine.

Rightly do they love you!

The Maiden’s Self-Description

⁵I am black but beautiful,^j O maidens of Jerusalem,^k

like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not gaze at me because I am black, ^l

because the sun has stared at me.

The sons of my mother were angry with me;

they made me keeper of the vineyards,

but my own “vineyard”^m I did not keep.

Dialogue between Shepherdess and Shepherd

⁷Tell me, you whom my heartⁿ loves,

where do you pasture your flock,

where do your sheep lie down at the noon?

For why should I be like^o one who is veiled^p

beside the flocks of your companions?

⁸If you do not know, O fairest among women,

follow the tracks^q of the flock,

and pasture your little lambs^r beside the tents of the shepherds.

The Man’s Poetic Praise of His Beloved

⁹To a mare^s among the chariots^t of Pharaoh,

I compare you, my beloved.

¹⁰Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,

your neck with strings of jewels.

¹¹We will make ornaments of gold for you

with studs^u of silver.

The Maiden’s Poetic Praise of Her Beloved

¹²While the king was on his couch,

my nard gave its fragrance.

¹³My beloved is to me a pouch^v of myrrh,

he spends the night^w between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of blossoms of henna

in the vineyards of En Gedi.

Mutual Admiration

¹⁵Look! You are beautiful, my beloved.

Look! You are beautiful;

your eyes are doves.

¹⁶Look! You are beautiful, my beloved,

truly pleasant.

Truly our couch is verdant;^x

¹⁷the beams of our house are cedar;

our rafter is cypress.

Dialogue between the Maiden and Her Beloved

2I am a rose^a of Sharon,

a lily of the valleys.

²Like a lily among the thorns,^b

so is my love among the maidens.

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

so is my beloved among the young men.

In his shade I sat down with delight,^c

and his fruit was sweet to my palate.

Banquet Hall of Love

⁴He brought me to the house of the wine,

and his intention was love toward me.

⁵Sustain me with the raisins,

refresh me with the apples,

for I am lovesick.^d

Double Refrain: Embrace and Adjuration

⁶His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces^e me.

⁷I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,^f

by the gazelles or by the does of the field,

do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!^g

Rendezvous in the Countryside

⁸The voice of my beloved!

Look! Here he^h comes leaping upon the mountains,

bounding over the hills!

⁹My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.ⁱ

Look! He is^j standing behind our wall,

gazing through^k the window,

looking through^l the lattice.

¹⁰My beloved answered and said to me,

“Arise,^m my beloved! Come, my beauty!ⁿ

¹¹For look! The winter is over;

the rainy season^o has turned and gone away.^p

¹²The blossoms appear^q in the land;^r

the time of singing^s has arrived;^t

the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree puts forth her figs,

and the vines are in blossom; they give fragrance.

Arise,^u my beloved! Come, my beauty!”^v

¹⁴My dove, in the clefts of the rock,

in the secluded place^wx in the mountain,^yz

Let me see your face,

let me hear your voice;

for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.

¹⁵Catch for us the foxes,

the little foxes destroying vineyards,

for^a our vineyards are in blossom!

Poetic Refrain

¹⁶My beloved belongs to me and I belong to him;^b

he pastures his flock among the lilies.

¹⁷Until the day breathes and the shadows flee,

turn, my beloved!

Be like^c a gazelle^d or young stag^e on the cleft mountains.^f

The Maiden’s Dream: Seeking and Finding

3On my bed in the night,

I sought^a him whom my heart^b loves.

I sought him, but I did not find him.

²Now I will arise, and I will go about in the city,

in the streets and in the squares;

I will seek him whom my heart^c loves.

I sought him, but I did not find him.

³The sentinels who go about in the city found me.

“Have you seen the one whom my heart^d loves?”

⁴Scarcely had I passed^e by them

when I found him whom my heart^f loves.

I held him and I would not let him go

until I brought him to the house of my mother,

into the bedroom chamber of she who conceived me.

Adjuration Refrain

⁵I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,^g

by the gazelles or by the does of the field,

do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!^h

Royal Wedding Procession

⁶What is this coming up from the desert

like a column of smoke,

perfumed with myrrh and frankincense

from all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

⁷Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch!ⁱ

Sixty mighty men surround it,^j

the mighty men of Israel.

⁸All of them wield swords;^k

they are trained in warfare,^l

each with his sword at his thigh

to guard against terror^m in the night.

⁹King Solomonⁿ made for himself a sedan chair

from the wood of Lebanon.

¹⁰He made its column of silver, its back^o of gold, its seat of purple;

its interior is inlaid with leather^p by the maidens of Jerusalem.^q

¹¹Come out and look, O maidens of Zion,^r at King Solomon,^s

at the crown with which his mother crowned him

on the day of his wedding,

on the day of the joy of his heart!

The Groom’s Praise of His Bride

4Look! You are beautiful, my beloved!

Look! You are beautiful!

Your eyes are doves

from behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

that move down from the mountains of Gilead.

²Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes

that came up from the washing,

all of them bearing twins,

and there is none bereaved among them.

³Your lips are like a thread of crimson,

and your mouth is lovely.

Your temple is like halves of pomegranate

from behind your veil.

⁴Your neck is like the tower of David,

built in courses;

a thousand ornaments^a are hung on it,

all the shields of the warriors.

⁵Your two breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle that feed among the lilies.

⁶Until the day breathes and the shadows flee,

I will go to the mountain of the myrrh,

to the hill of the frankincense.

⁷You are completely beautiful, my beloved!

You are flawless!^b

The Mountains and Fragrance of Lebanon

⁸Come^c with me from Lebanon, my bride!

Come with me^d from Lebanon!

Look from the top of Amana,

from the top of Senir and Hermon,

from the dwelling places of the lions,

from the mountains of leopard.

⁹You have stolen (my) heart, my sister bride!

You have stolen my heart with one glance from your eyes,

with one ornament from your necklaces.

¹⁰How beautiful is your love, my sister bride!

How better is your love than wine,

and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!

¹¹Your lips drip nectar, my bride;

honey and milk are under your lips;

the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.

The Locked Garden of Delights Is Unlocked

¹²A garden locked is my sister bride,

a spring enclosed,^e a fountain sealed.

¹³Your shoots^f are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruit,^g

henna with nard;

¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon spice with all trees of frankincense,

myrrh and aloes with all chief spices.

¹⁵A garden fountain, a well of living water,

flowing (streams) from Lebanon.

¹⁶Awake, O north wind! Come, O south wind!

Blow upon my garden! Let its fragrances^h waft forth!ⁱ

Let my beloved come to his garden,

let him eat his choice fruit!