Song of Solomon 1:2–17

Colloquy of the Young Woman and Friends

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

For your love is better than wine;^*

³your anointing oils are fragrant;

your name is perfume poured out;

therefore the maidens love you.^*

⁴Draw me after you; let us make haste.

The king has brought me into his chambers.

We will exult and rejoice in you;

we will extol your love more than wine;

rightly do they love you.^*

⁵I am black and beautiful,

O daughters of Jerusalem,

like the tents of Kedar,

like the curtains of Solomon.^*

⁶Do not gaze at me because I am dark,

because the sun has gazed on me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me;

they made me keeper of the vineyards,

but my own vineyard I have not kept!^*

⁷Tell me, you whom my soul loves,

where you pasture your flock,

where you make it lie down at noon,

for why should I be like one who is veiled

beside the flocks of your companions?^*

⁸If you do not know,

O fairest among women,

follow the tracks of the flock

and pasture your kids

beside the shepherds’ tents.^*

Colloquy of the Young Man, Friends, and the Young Woman

⁹I compare you, my love,

to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.^*

¹⁰Your cheeks are comely with ornaments,

your neck with strings of jewels.^*

¹¹We will make you ornaments of gold,

studded with silver.

¹²While the king was on his couch,

my nard gave forth its fragrance.

¹³My beloved is to me a bag of myrrh

that lies between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms

in the vineyards of En-gedi.^*

¹⁵Ah, you are beautiful, my love;

ah, you are beautiful;

your eyes are doves.^*

¹⁶Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,

truly lovely.

Our couch is green;

¹⁷the beams of our house are cedar;

our rafters^a are pine.^*