Song of Solomon 1

1Solomon’s Song of Songs.

The Woman Speaks to the Man She Loves

²Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth,

because your love is better than wine.

³The smell of your perfume is pleasant,

and your name is pleasant like expensive perfume.

That’s why the young women love you.

⁴Take me with you; let’s run together.

The king takes me into his rooms.

Friends Speak to the Man

We will rejoice and be happy with you;

we praise your love more than wine.

With good reason, the young women love you.

The Woman Speaks

⁵I’m dark but lovely,

women of Jerusalem,

dark like the tents of Kedar,

like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Don’t look at how dark I am,

at how dark the sun has made me.

My brothers were angry with me

and made me tend the vineyards,

so I haven’t tended my own vineyard!

⁷Tell me, you whom I love,

where do you feed your sheep?

Where do you let them rest at noon?

Why should I look for you near your friend’s sheep,

like a woman who wears a veil? ⁿ

The Man Speaks to the Woman

⁸You are the most beautiful of women.

Surely you know to follow the sheep

and feed your young goats

near the shepherds’ tents.

⁹My darling, you are like a mare

among the king’s stallions.

¹⁰Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,

and your neck with jewels.

¹¹We will make for you gold earrings

with silver hooks.

The Woman Speaks

¹²The smell of my perfume spreads out

to the king on his couch.

¹³My lover is like a bag of myrrh

that lies all night between my breasts.

¹⁴My lover is like a bunch of flowers

from the vineyards at En Gedi.

The Man Speaks

¹⁵My darling, you are beautiful!

Oh, you are beautiful,

and your eyes are like doves.

The Woman Answers the Man

¹⁶You are so handsome, my lover,

and so pleasant!

Our bed is the grass.

¹⁷Cedar trees form our roof;

our ceiling is made of juniper wood.