1:1 “Solomon’s1 Most Excellent2 Love Song.3”
The Desire for Love
The Beloved to Her Lover:4
1:2 Oh, how I wish you5would kiss me passionately!6
For your lovemaking7 is more delightful8than wine.9
1:3 The fragrance10 of your colognes11 is delightful;12
your name13 is like the finest14 perfume.15
No wonder the young women16 adore17 you!
1:4 Draw me18 after you; let us hurry!19
May the king20bring21 me into his22 bedroom chambers!23
The Maidens24 to the Lover:
We will25 rejoice and delight in you;26
we will praise27 your love more than wine.
The Beloved to Her Lover:
How rightly28the young women29 adore you!
The Country Maiden and the Daughters of Jerusalem
The Beloved to the Maidens:
1:5 I am dark but lovely, O maidens30 of Jerusalem,
dark31 like the tents of Qedar,32
lovely33 like the tent curtains34 of Salmah.35
1:6 Do not stare at me because36 I am dark,
for37 the sun has burned my skin.38
My brothers39 were angry40 with me;
they made me the keeper of the vineyards.
Alas, my own “vineyard”41 I could not keep!42
The Shepherd and the Shepherdess
The Beloved to Her Lover:
1:7 Tell me, O you whom my heart43 loves,
where do you pasture your sheep?
Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat?
Tell me lest44 I wander around45
beside the flocks of your companions!
The Lover to His Beloved:
1:8 If you do not know, O most beautiful of women,
simply follow the tracks of my flock,
and pasture your little lambs
beside the tents of the shepherds.
The Beautiful Mare and the Fragrant Myrrh
The Lover to His Beloved:
1:9 O my beloved, you are like46 a47 mare48
among Pharaoh’s stallions.49
1:10 Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments;
your neck is lovely50 with strings of jewels.
1:11 We51 will make for you gold ornaments
studded with silver.52
The Beloved about Her Lover:
1:12 While the king was at his banqueting table,53
my nard54 gave forth its fragrance.55
1:13 My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh56
spending the night57 between my breasts.
1:14 My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms58
in the vineyards of En-Gedi.59
Mutual Praise and Admiration
The Lover to His Beloved:
1:15 Oh,60 how beautiful you are, my beloved!61
Oh, how beautiful you are!
The Beloved to Her Lover:
1:16 Oh, how handsome you are, my lover!64
Oh,65 how delightful66 you are!
The lush foliage67 is our canopied bed;68
1:17 the cedars are the beams of our bedroom chamber;
the pines are the rafters of our bedroom.
The Lily among the Thorns and the Apple Tree in the Forest
The Beloved to Her Lover: