Song of Solomon 1:2–8:14

She^a

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

for your love^b is more delightful than wine.^c

³Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;^d

your name^e is like perfume poured out.

No wonder the young women^f love you!

⁴Take me away with you—let us hurry!

Let the king bring me into his chambers.^g

Friends

We rejoice and delight^h in you^b;

we will praise your loveⁱ more than wine.

She

How right they are to adore you!

⁵Dark am I, yet lovely,^j

daughters of Jerusalem,^k

dark like the tents of Kedar,^l

like the tent curtains of Solomon.^c

⁶Do 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.

⁷Tell me, you whom I love,

where you graze your flock

and where you rest your sheepⁿ at midday.

Why should I be like a veiled^o woman

beside the flocks of your friends?

Friends

⁸If 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

⁹I liken you, my darling, to a mare

among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.^q

¹⁰Your cheeks^r are beautiful with earrings,

your neck with strings of jewels.^s

¹¹We will make you earrings of gold,

studded with silver.

She

¹²While the king was at his table,

my perfume spread its fragrance.^t

¹³My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh^u

resting between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved^v is to me a cluster of henna^w blossoms

from the vineyards of En Gedi.^x

He

¹⁵How beautiful^y you are, my darling!

Oh, how beautiful!

Your eyes are doves.^z

She

¹⁶How handsome you are, my beloved!^a

Oh, how charming!

And our bed is verdant.

He

¹⁷The beams of our house are cedars;^b

our rafters are firs.

She^a

2I am a rose^bc of Sharon,^d

a lily^e of the valleys.

He

²Like a lily among thorns

is my darling among the young women.

She

³Like an apple^c tree among the trees of the forest

is my beloved^f among the young men.

I delight^g to sit in his shade,

and his fruit is sweet to my taste.^h

⁴Let him lead me to the banquet hall,ⁱ

and let his banner^j over me be love.

⁵Strengthen me with raisins,

refresh me with apples,^k

for I am faint with love.^l

⁶His left arm is under my head,

and his right arm embraces me.^m

⁷Daughters 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

⁸Listen! My beloved!

Look! Here he comes,

leaping across the mountains,

bounding over the hills.^p

⁹My beloved is like a gazelle^q or a young stag.^r

Look! There he stands behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

peering through the lattice.

¹⁰My beloved spoke and said to me,

“Arise, my darling,

my beautiful one, come with me.

¹¹See! The winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

¹²Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves

is heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree forms its early fruit;^s

the blossoming^t vines spread their fragrance.

Arise, come, my darling;

my beautiful one, come with me.”

He

¹⁴My dove^u 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

¹⁵Catch for us the foxes,^w

the little foxes

that ruin the vineyards,^x

our vineyards that are in bloom.^y

She

¹⁶My beloved is mine and I am his;^z

he browses among the lilies.^a

¹⁷Until the day breaks

and the shadows flee,^b

turn, my beloved,^c

and be like a gazelle

or like a young stag^d

on the rugged hills.^de

3All night long on my bed

I looked^f for the one my heart loves;

I looked for him but did not find him.

²I 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.

³The watchmen found me

as they made their rounds in the city.^g

“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”

⁴Scarcely 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

⁵Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you^j

by the gazelles and by the does of the field:

Do not arouse or awaken love

until it so desires.^k

⁶Who is this coming up from the wilderness^l

like a column of smoke,

perfumed with myrrh^m and incense

made from all the spicesⁿ of the merchant?

⁷Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,

escorted by sixty warriors,^o

the noblest of Israel,

⁸all of them wearing the sword,

all experienced in battle,

each with his sword at his side,

prepared for the terrors of the night.^p

⁹King Solomon made for himself the carriage;

he made it of wood from Lebanon.

¹⁰Its posts he made of silver,

its base of gold.

Its seat was upholstered with purple,

its interior inlaid with love.

Daughters of Jerusalem, ¹¹come out,

and look, you daughters of Zion.^q

Look^a 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

4How beautiful you are, my darling!

Oh, how beautiful!

Your eyes behind your veil^s are doves.^t

Your hair is like a flock of goats

descending from the hills of Gilead.^u

²Your 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

³Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;

your mouth^w is lovely.^x

Your temples behind your veil

are like the halves of a pomegranate.^y

⁴Your neck is like the tower^z of David,

built with courses of stone^a;

on it hang a thousand shields,^a

all of them shields of warriors.

⁵Your breasts^b are like two fawns,

like twin fawns of a gazelle^c

that browse among the lilies.^d

⁶Until the day breaks

and the shadows flee,^e

I will go to the mountain of myrrh^f

and to the hill of incense.

⁷You are altogether beautiful,^g my darling;

there is no flaw^h in you.

⁸Come 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.

⁹You 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

¹⁰How delightfulⁿ is your love^o, my sister, my bride!

How much more pleasing is your love than wine,^p

and the fragrance of your perfume^q

more than any spice!

¹¹Your 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

¹²You are a garden^t locked up, my sister, my bride;^u

you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.^v

¹³Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates^w

with choice fruits,

with henna^x and nard,

¹⁴nard and saffron,

calamus and cinnamon,^y

with every kind of incense tree,

with myrrh^z and aloes^a

and all the finest spices.^b

¹⁵You are^b a garden^c fountain,^d

a well of flowing water

streaming down from Lebanon.

She

¹⁶Awake, north wind,

and come, south wind!

Blow on my garden,^e

that its fragrance^f may spread everywhere.

Let my beloved^g come into his garden

and taste its choice fruits.^h

He

5I 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

²I slept but my heart was awake.

Listen! My beloved is knocking:

“Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove,^l my flawless^m one.ⁿ

My head is drenched with dew,

my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³I have taken off my robe—

must I put it on again?

I have washed my feet—

must I soil them again?

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

my heart began to pound for him.

⁵I arose to open for my beloved,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,^o

my fingers with flowing myrrh,

on the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened for my beloved,^p

but my beloved had left; he was gone.^q

My heart sank at his departure.^a

I looked^r for him but did not find him.

I called him but he did not answer.

⁷The 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!

⁸Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you^t—

if you find my beloved,^u

what will you tell him?

Tell him I am faint with love.^v

Friends

⁹How is your beloved better than others,

most beautiful of women?^w

How is your beloved better than others,

that you so charge us?

She

¹⁰My beloved is radiant and ruddy,

outstanding among ten thousand.^x

¹¹His head is purest gold;

his hair is wavy

and black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves^y

by the water streams,

washed in milk,^z

mounted like jewels.

¹³His cheeks^a are like beds of spice^b

yielding perfume.

His lips are like lilies^c

dripping with myrrh.^d

¹⁴His arms are rods of gold

set with topaz.

His body is like polished ivory

decorated with lapis lazuli.^e

¹⁵His legs are pillars of marble

set on bases of pure gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon,^f

choice as its cedars.

¹⁶His mouth^g is sweetness itself;

he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved,^h this is my friend,

daughters of Jerusalem.ⁱ

Friends

6Where has your beloved^j gone,

most beautiful of women?^k

Which way did your beloved turn,

that we may look for him with you?

She

²My beloved has gone^l down to his garden,^m

to the beds of spices,ⁿ

to browse in the gardens

and to gather lilies.

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

he browses among the lilies.^p

He

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

as lovely as Jerusalem,^r

as majestic as troops with banners.^s

⁵Turn your eyes from me;

they overwhelm me.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

descending from Gilead.^t

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of sheep

coming up from the washing.

Each has its twin,

not one of them is missing.^u

⁷Your temples behind your veil^v

are like the halves of a pomegranate.^w

⁸Sixty queens^x there may be,

and eighty concubines,^y

and virgins beyond number;

⁹but my dove,^z my perfect one,^a is unique,

the only daughter of her mother,

the favorite of the one who bore her.^b

The young women saw her and called her…