Song of Songs 1

¹This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonderful than any other.

Young Woman The headings identifying the speakers are not in the original text, though the Hebrew usually gives clues by means of the gender of the person speaking. ² Kiss me and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine. ³ How fragrant your cologne; your name is like its spreading fragrance. No wonder all the young women love you! ⁴ Take me with you; come, let’s run! The king has brought me into his bedroom.

Young Women of Jerusalem

Young Woman

⁵I am dark but beautiful, O women of Jerusalem— dark as the tents of Kedar, dark as the curtains of Solomon’s tents. ⁶ Don’t stare at me because I am dark— the sun has darkened my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they forced me to care for their vineyards, so I couldn’t care for myself—my own vineyard.

⁷Tell me, my love, where are you leading your flock today? Where will you rest your sheep at noon? For why should I wander like a prostitute Hebrew like a veiled woman. among your friends and their flocks?

Young Man ⁸ If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman, follow the trail of my flock, and graze your young goats by the shepherds’ tents. ⁹ You are as exciting, my darling, as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions. ¹⁰ How lovely are your cheeks; your earrings set them afire! How lovely is your neck, enhanced by a string of jewels. ¹¹ We will make for you earrings of gold and beads of silver.

Young Woman ¹² The king is lying on his couch, enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume. ¹³ My lover is like a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts. ¹⁴ He is like a bouquet of sweet henna blossoms from the vineyards of En-gedi.

Young Man ¹⁵ How beautiful you are, my darling, how beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.

Young Woman ¹⁶ You are so handsome, my love, pleasing beyond words! The soft grass is our bed; ¹⁷ fragrant cedar branches are the beams of our house, and pleasant smelling firs are the rafters.