Song of Solomon 1-4

1This is Solomon’s Song of Songs.

2Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is more delightful than wine.

3The fragrance of your perfume is pleasing; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens adore you.

4Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. The Friends We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. The Bride It is only right that they adore you.

5I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

6Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.

7Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?

8If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.

9I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

10Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.

11We will make you ornaments of gold, studded with beads of silver.

12While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.

13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts.

14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.

15How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.

16How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how delightful! The soft grass is our bed.

17The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are fragrant firs.

1I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.

2Like a lily among the thorns is my darling among the maidens.

3Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

4He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.

5Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

6His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.

7O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

8Listen! My beloved approaches. Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.

9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

10My beloved calls to me, “Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one.

11For now the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.

12The flowers have appeared in the countryside; the season of singing has come, and the cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land.

13The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come away, my darling; come away with me, my beautiful one.”

14O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your countenance is lovely.

15Catch for us the foxes— the little foxes that ruin the vineyards— for our vineyards are in bloom.

16My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

17Before the day breaks and shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.

1On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.

2I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him.

3I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?”

4I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

5O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

6Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?

7Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty of the mightiest men of Israel.

8All are skilled with the sword, experienced in warfare. Each has his sword at his side prepared for the terror of the night.

9King Solomon has made his carriage out of the timber of Lebanon.

10He has made its posts of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple fabric. Its interior is inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

11Come out, O daughters of Zion, and gaze at King Solomon, wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding— the day of his heart’s rejoicing.

1How beautiful you are, my darling— how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.

2Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin, and not one of them is lost.

3Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

4Your neck is like the tower of David, built with rows of stones; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors.

5Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.

6Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

7You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw.

8Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon! Descend from the peak of Amana, from the summits of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.

9You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.

10How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! Your love is much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices.

11Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon.

12My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.

13Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard,

14with nard and saffron, with calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of frankincense tree, with myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices.

15You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon.

16Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Breathe on my garden and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choicest fruits.