Song of Songs

Song of Songs is a collection of love poems between a lover and his beloved. It beautifully celebrates romantic and physical love.

1 Solomon’s Song of Songs.a

Shea

2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—

for your loveb is more delightful than wine.c

3 Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;d

your namee is like perfume poured out.

No wonder the young womenf love you!

4 Take me away with you—let us hurry!

Let the king bring me into his chambers.g

Friends

We rejoice and delighth in youb;

we will praise your lovei more than wine.

She

How right they are to adore you!

5 Dark am I, yet lovely,j

daughters of Jerusalem,k

dark like the tents of Kedar,l

like the tent curtains of Solomon.c

6 Do not stare at me because I am dark,

because I am darkened by the sun.

My mother’s sons were angry with me

and made me take care of the vineyards;m

my own vineyard I had to neglect.

7 Tell me, you whom I love,

where you graze your flock

and where you rest your sheepn at midday.

Why should I be like a veiledo woman

beside the flocks of your friends?

Friends

8 If you do not know, most beautiful of women,p

follow the tracks of the sheep

and graze your young goats

by the tents of the shepherds.

He

9 I liken you, my darling, to a mare

among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.q

10 Your cheeksr are beautiful with earrings,

your neck with strings of jewels.s

11 We will make you earrings of gold,

studded with silver.

She

12 While the king was at his table,

my perfume spread its fragrance.t

13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrhu

resting between my breasts.

14 My belovedv is to me a cluster of hennaw blossoms

from the vineyards of En Gedi.x

He

15 How beautifuly you are, my darling!

Oh, how beautiful!

Your eyes are doves.z

She

16 How handsome you are, my beloved!a

Oh, how charming!

And our bed is verdant.

He

17 The beams of our house are cedars;b

our rafters are firs.

Shea

2 I am a roseb c of Sharon,d

a lilye of the valleys.

He

2 Like a lily among thorns

is my darling among the young women.

She

3 Like an applec tree among the trees of the forest

is my belovedf among the young men.

I delightg to sit in his shade,

and his fruit is sweet to my taste.h

4 Let him lead me to the banquet hall,i

and let his bannerj over me be love.

5 Strengthen me with raisins,

refresh me with apples,k

for I am faint with love.l

6 His left arm is under my head,

and his right arm embraces me.m

7 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge youn

by the gazelles and by the does of the field:

Do not arouse or awaken love

until it so desires.o

8 Listen! My beloved!

Look! Here he comes,

leaping across the mountains,

bounding over the hills.p

9 My beloved is like a gazelleq or a young stag.r

Look! There he stands behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

peering through the lattice.

10 My beloved spoke and said to me,

“Arise, my darling,

my beautiful one, come with me.

11 See! The winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

12 Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves

is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;s

the blossomingt vines spread their fragrance.

Arise, come, my darling;

my beautiful one, come with me.”

He

14 My doveu in the clefts of the rock,

in the hiding places on the mountainside,

show me your face,

let me hear your voice;

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely.v

15 Catch for us the foxes,w

the little foxes

that ruin the vineyards,x

our vineyards that are in bloom.y

She

16 My beloved is mine and I am his;z

he browses among the lilies.a

17 Until the day breaks

and the shadows flee,b

turn, my beloved,c

and be like a gazelle

or like a young stagd

on the rugged hills.d e

3 All night long on my bed

I lookedf for the one my heart loves;

I looked for him but did not find him.

2 I will get up now and go about the city,

through its streets and squares;

I will search for the one my heart loves.

So I looked for him but did not find him.

3 The watchmen found me

as they made their rounds in the city.g

“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”

4 Scarcely had I passed them

when I found the one my heart loves.

I held him and would not let him go

till I had brought him to my mother’s house,h

to the room of the one who conceived me.i

5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge youj

by the gazelles and by the does of the field:

Do not arouse or awaken love

until it so desires.k

6 Who is this coming up from the wildernessl

like a column of smoke,

perfumed with myrrhm and incense

made from all the spicesn of the merchant?

7 Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,

escorted by sixty warriors,o

the noblest of Israel,

8 all of them wearing the sword,

all experienced in battle,

each with his sword at his side,

prepared for the terrors of the night.p

9 King Solomon made for himself the carriage;

he made it of wood from Lebanon.

10 Its posts he made of silver,

its base of gold.

Its seat was upholstered with purple,

its interior inlaid with love.

Daughters of Jerusalem, 11 come out,

and look, you daughters of Zion.q

Looka on King Solomon wearing a crown,

the crown with which his mother crowned him

on the day of his wedding,

the day his heart rejoiced.r

He

4 How beautiful you are, my darling!

Oh, how beautiful!

Your eyes behind your veils are doves.t

Your hair is like a flock of goats

descending from the hills of Gilead.u

2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,

coming up from the washing.

Each has its twin;

not one of them is alone.v

3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;

your mouthw is lovely.x

Your temples behind your veil

are like the halves of a pomegranate.y

4 Your neck is like the towerz of David,

built with courses of stonea;

on it hang a thousand shields,a

all of them shields of warriors.

5 Your breastsb are like two fawns,

like twin fawns of a gazellec

that browse among the lilies.d

6 Until the day breaks

and the shadows flee,e

I will go to the mountain of myrrhf

and to the hill of incense.

7 You are altogether beautiful,g my darling;

there is no flawh in you.

8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,i

come with me from Lebanon.

Descend from the crest of Amana,

from the top of Senir,j the summit of Hermon,k

from the lions’ dens

and the mountain haunts of leopards.

9 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;l

you have stolen my heart

with one glance of your eyes,

with one jewel of your necklace.m

10 How delightfuln is your loveo, my sister, my bride!

How much more pleasing is your love than wine,p

and the fragrance of your perfumeq

more than any spice!

11 Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;

milk and honey are under your tongue.r

The fragrance of your garments

is like the fragrance of Lebanon.s

12 You are a gardent locked up, my sister, my bride;u

you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.v

13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranatesw

with choice fruits,

with hennax and nard,

14 nard and saffron,

calamus and cinnamon,y

with every kind of incense tree,

with myrrhz and aloesa

and all the finest spices.b

15 You areb a gardenc fountain,d

a well of flowing water

streaming down from Lebanon.

She

16 Awake, north wind,

and come, south wind!

Blow on my garden,e

that its fragrancef may spread everywhere.

Let my belovedg come into his garden

and taste its choice fruits.h

He

5 I have come into my garden,i my sister, my bride;j

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.

I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;

I have drunk my wine and my milk.k

Friends

Eat, friends, and drink;

drink your fill of love.

She

2 I slept but my heart was awake.

Listen! My beloved is knocking:

“Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove,l my flawlessm one.n

My head is drenched with dew,

my hair with the dampness of the night.”

3 I have taken off my robe—

must I put it on again?

I have washed my feet—

must I soil them again?

4 My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;

my heart began to pound for him.

5 I arose to open for my beloved,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,o

my fingers with flowing myrrh,

on the handles of the bolt.

6 I opened for my beloved,p

but my beloved had left; he was gone.q

My heart sank at his departure.a

I lookedr for him but did not find him.

I called him but he did not answer.

7 The watchmen found me

as they made their rounds in the city.s

They beat me, they bruised me;

they took away my cloak,

those watchmen of the walls!

8 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge yout—

if you find my beloved,u

what will you tell him?

Tell him I am faint with love.v

Friends

9 How is your beloved better than others,

most beautiful of women?w

How is your beloved better than others,

that you so charge us?

She

10 My beloved is radiant and ruddy,

outstanding among ten thousand.x

11 His head is purest gold;

his hair is wavy

and black as a raven.

12 His eyes are like dovesy

by the water streams,

washed in milk,z

mounted like jewels.

13 His cheeksa are like beds of spiceb

yielding perfume.

His lips are like liliesc

dripping with myrrh.d

14 His arms are rods of gold

set with topaz.

His body is like polished ivory

decorated with lapis lazuli.e

15 His legs are pillars of marble

set on bases of pure gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon,f

choice as its cedars.

16 His mouthg is sweetness itself;

he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved,h this is my friend,

daughters of Jerusalem.i

Friends

6 Where has your belovedj gone,

most beautiful of women?k

Which way did your beloved turn,

that we may look for him with you?

She

2 My beloved has gonel down to his garden,m

to the beds of spices,n

to browse in the gardens

and to gather lilies.

3 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;o

he browses among the lilies.p

He

4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah,q my darling,

as lovely as Jerusalem,r

as majestic as troops with banners.s

5 Turn your eyes from me;

they overwhelm me.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

descending from Gilead.t

6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep

coming up from the washing.

Each has its twin,

not one of them is missing.u

7 Your temples behind your veilv

are like the halves of a pomegranate.w

8 Sixty queensx there may be,

and eighty concubines,y

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