Song of Songs
Title/Superscription
1:11
“Solomon’s2
Most Excellent Love Song.”3
The Call to Love: Praise of Solomon
1:2 The Beloved to Her Lover:
Oh, how I wish you4
would kiss me passionately!5
For your love is more delightful6
than wine.7
1:3 The fragrance of your colognes8
is delightful,9
Your name10
is like perfume11
wafted about.12
No wonder the young maidens13
adore14
you!
1:4 Draw me15
after you,
Let us hurry!
May the king16
bring17
me into his18
bedroom chambers!19
The Speaker(s)20
to the Lover:
We will21
rejoice and delight in you,22
We will praise23
your love more than wine.
How rightly24
the maidens25
love you!
The Country Maiden and the Daughters of Jerusalem
1:5 The Beloved to the Maidens:
I am dark but lovely,26
O maidens27
of Jerusalem;
Dark like the rustic tents of Qedar,28
lovely like the beautiful tent curtains29
of Solomon.30
1:6 Do not stare at me because31
I am dark; for32
the sun has burned my skin.33
My brothers34
were angry35
with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyard,
Alas, my own “vineyard”36
I could not keep!37
The Shepherd and the Shepherdess
1:7 The Beloved to Her Lover:
Tell me, O you whom my heart38
loves,
Where do you pasture your sheep?
Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat?
Tell me lest39
I be mistaken as a veiled woman40
beside the flocks of your companions!
1:8 The Lover to His Beloved:
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
1:9 The Lover to His Beloved:
O my beloved, you are like my mare41
would be42
Among Pharaoh’s stallions.43
1:10 Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,
Your neck is lovely with strings of jewels.
1:11 We44
will make for you gold ornaments studded with silver.45
1:12 The Beloved about Her Lover:
While the king was at his banqueting table,46
My nard47
gave forth its fragrance.48
1:13 My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh49
Spending the night50
between my breasts.
1:14 My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms51
In the vineyards of En-Gedi.52
Mutual Praise and Admiration
1:15 The Lover to His Beloved:
Oh,53
how beautiful you are, my beloved;54
Oh, how beautiful you are!
Your eyes55
are like doves!56
1:16 The Beloved to Her Lover:
Oh, how handsome you are, my lover;57
Oh,58
how delightful59
you are!
The lush foliage60
above us is like our canopied bed;61
1:17 The cedars above us are like the beams of our bedroom-chamber,
The pines above us are like the rafters of our bedroom.
