Chapter 1

¹The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

Beloved

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

For your love is better than wine.

³Your oils have a pleasing fragrance.

Your name is oil poured forth,

Therefore the virgins love you.

⁴Take me away with you.

Let us hurry.

The king has brought me into his chambers.

Friends

We will be glad and rejoice in you.

We will praise your love more than wine!

Beloved

They are right to love you.

⁵I am dark, but lovely,

You daughters of Jerusalem,

Like Kedar’s tents,

Like Solomon’s curtains.

⁶Don’t stare at me because I am dark,

Because the sun has scorched me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me.

They made me keeper of the vineyards.

I haven’t kept my own vineyard.

⁷Tell me, you whom my soul loves,

Where you graze your flock,

Where you rest them at noon;

For why should I be as one who is veiled

Beside the flocks of your companions?

Lover

⁸If you don’t know, most beautiful among women,

Follow the tracks of the sheep.

Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.

⁹I have compared you, my love,

To a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.

¹⁰Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,

Your neck with strings of jewels.

¹¹We will make you earrings of gold,

With studs of silver.

Beloved

¹²While the king sat at his table,

My perfume spread its fragrance.

¹³My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh,

That lies between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms

From the vineyards of En Gedi.

Lover

¹⁵Behold, you are beautiful, my love.

Behold, you are beautiful.

Your eyes are doves.

Beloved

¹⁶Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant;

And our couch is verdant.

Lover

¹⁷The beams of our house are cedars.

Our rafters are firs.