²Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth, For better are thy loves than wine. ³For fragrance are thy perfumes good. Perfume emptied out—thy name, Therefore have virgins loved thee! ⁴Draw me: after thee we run, The king hath brought me into his inner chambers, We do joy and rejoice in thee, We mention thy loves more than wine, Uprightly they have loved thee! ⁵Dark am I, and comely, daughters of Jerusalem, As tents of Kedar, as curtains of Solomon. ⁶Fear me not, because I am very dark, Because the sun hath scorched me, The sons of my mother were angry with me, They made me keeper of the vineyards, My vineyard—my own—I have not kept.

⁷Declare to me, thou whom my soul hath loved, Where thou delightest, Where thou liest down at noon, For why am I as one veiled, By the ranks of thy companions? ⁸If thou knowest not, O fair among women, Get thee forth by the traces of the flock, And feed thy kids by the shepherds’ dwellings! ⁹To my joyous one in chariots of Pharaoh, I have compared thee, my friend, ¹⁰Comely have been thy cheeks with garlands, Thy neck with chains. ¹¹Garlands of gold we do make for thee, With studs of silver!

¹²While the king is in his circle, My spikenard hath given its fragrance. ¹³A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, Between my breasts it lodgeth. ¹⁴A cluster of cypress is my beloved to me, In the vineyards of En-Gedi! ¹⁵Lo, thou art fair, my friend, Lo, thou art fair, thine eyes are doves! ¹⁶Lo, thou art fair, my love, yea, pleasant, Yea, our couch is green, ¹⁷The beams of our houses are cedars, Our rafters are firs, I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys!

Chapter 2

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