1 * The most beautiful of songs, by Solomon.a

The First Song

The Woman

2 Your lips cover me with kisses;

your love is better than wine.

3 There is a fragrance about you;

the sound of your name recalls it.

No woman could help loving you.

4 Take me with you, and we’ll run away; be my king and take me to your room.

We will be happy together, drink deep, and lose ourselves in love. No wonder all women love you!

5 Women of Jerusalem, I am dark butb beautiful,

dark as the desert tents of Kedar,

but beautiful as the curtains in Solomon’s palace.

6 Don’t look down on me because of my colour,

because the sun has tanned me.

My brothers were angry with me

and made me work in the vineyard.

I had no time to care for myself.

7 Tell me, my love,

Where will you lead your flock to graze?

Where will they rest from the noonday sun?

Why should I need to look for you

among the flocks of the other shepherds?c

The Man

8 Don’t you know the place, loveliest of women?

Go and follow the flock;

find pasture for your goats

near the tents of the shepherds.

9 You, my love, excite men

as a mare excites the stallions of Pharaoh’s chariots.

10 Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks

and falls along your neck like jewels.

11 But we will make for you a chain of gold

with ornaments of silver.

The Woman

12 My king was lying on his couch,

and my perfume filled the air with fragrance.

13 My lover has the scent of myrrh

as he lies upon my breasts.

14 My lover is like the wild flowers

that bloom in the vineyards at Engedi.

The Man

15 How beautiful you are, my love;

how your eyes shine with love!

The Woman

16 How handsome you are, my dearest;

how you delight me!

The green grass will be our bed;

17 the cedars will be the beams of our house,

and the cypress trees the ceiling.