SONG OF SOLOMON 1-3

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The Young Shulammite Bride and Jerusalem’s Daughters  1:1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
2 “May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your love is better than wine.

3 “Your oils have a pleasing fragrance,

Your name is like purified oil;

Therefore the maidens love you.

4 “Draw me after you and let us run together!

The king has brought me into his chambers.”

“We will rejoice in you and be glad;

We will extol your love more than wine.

Rightly do they love you.”

5 “I am black but lovely,

O daughters of Jerusalem,

Like the tents of Kedar,

Like the curtains of Solomon.

6 “Do not stare at me because I am swarthy,

For the sun has burned me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me;

They made me caretaker of the vineyards,

But I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

7 “Tell me, O you whom my soul loves,

Where do you pasture your flock,

Where do you make it lie down at noon?

For why should I be like one who veils herself

Beside the flocks of your companions?”

Solomon, the Lover, Speaks8 “If you yourself do not know,

Most beautiful among women,

Go forth on the trail of the flock

And pasture your young goats

By the tents of the shepherds.

9 “To me, my darling, you are like

My mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.

10 “Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,

Your neck with strings of beads.”

11 “We will make for you ornaments of gold

With beads of silver.”

12 “While the king was at his table,

My perfume gave forth its fragrance.

13 “My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh

Which lies all night between my breasts.

14 “My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms

In the vineyards of Engedi.”

15 “How beautiful you are, my darling,

How beautiful you are!

Your eyes are like doves.”

16 “How handsome you are, my beloved,

And so pleasant!

Indeed, our couch is luxuriant!

17 “The beams of our houses are cedars,

Our rafters, cypresses.

The Bride’s Admiration2:1 “I am the rose of Sharon,

The lily of the valleys.”

2 “Like a lily among the thorns,

So is my darling among the maidens.”

3 “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

So is my beloved among the young men.

In his shade I took great delight and sat down,

And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

4 “He has brought me to his banquet hall,

And his banner over me is love.

5 “Sustain me with raisin cakes,

Refresh me with apples,

Because I am lovesick.

6 “Let his left hand be under my head

And his right hand embrace me.”

7 “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the gazelles or by the hinds of the field,

That you do not arouse or awaken my love

Until she pleases.”

8 “Listen! My beloved!

Behold, he is coming,

Climbing on the mountains,

Leaping on the hills!

9 “My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.

Behold, he is standing behind our wall,

He is looking through the windows,

He is peering through the lattice.

10 “My beloved responded and said to me,

‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along.

11 ‘For behold, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone.

12 ‘The flowers have already appeared in the land;

The time has arrived for pruning the vines,

And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.

13 ‘The fig tree has ripened its figs,

And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance.

Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along!’”

14 “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

In the secret place of the steep pathway,

Let me see your form,

Let me hear your voice;

For your voice is sweet,

And your form is lovely.”

15 “Catch the foxes for us,

The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards,

While our vineyards are in blossom.”

16 “My beloved is mine, and I am his;

He pastures his flock among the lilies.

17 “Until the cool of the day when the shadows flee away,

Turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle

Or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.”

The Bride’s Troubled Dream3:1 “On my bed night after night I sought him

Whom my soul loves;

I sought him but did not find him.

2 ‘I must arise now and go about the city;

In the streets and in the squares

I must seek him whom my soul loves.’

I sought him but did not find him.

3 “The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me,

And I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’

4 “Scarcely had I left them

When I found him whom my soul loves;

I held on to him and would not let him go

Until I had brought him to my mother’s house,

And into the room of her who conceived me.”

5 “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the gazelles or by the hinds of the field,

That you will not arouse or awaken my love

Until she pleases.”

Solomon’s Wedding Day6 “What is this coming up from the wilderness

Like columns of smoke,

Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,

With all scented powders of the merchant?

7 “Behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon;

Sixty mighty men around it,

Of the mighty men of Israel.

8 “All of them are wielders of the sword,

Expert in war;

Each man has his sword at his side,

Guarding against the terrors of the night.

9 “King Solomon has made for himself a sedan chair

From the timber of Lebanon.

10 “He made its posts of silver,

Its back of gold

And its seat of purple fabric,

With its interior lovingly fitted out

By the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 “Go forth, O daughters of Zion,

And gaze on King Solomon with the crown

With which his mother has crowned him

On the day of his wedding,

And on the day of his gladness of heart.”

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