Title

1 The Song of Songs,which is forSolomon.

Maiden’s Soliloquy

2 Mayyou kiss mepassionately with your lips,

for your love is better than wine.

3 As fragrance, your perfumesare delightful;

your name is poured out perfume;

therefore young women love you.

4 Draw me after you, let us run!

May the king bring me into his chambers!

Let us be joyful and let us rejoice in you;

let us extol your love more than wine.

Rightly do they love you!

Maiden’s Self-Description

5 I am black but beautiful,O maidens of Jerusalem,

like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

6 Do not gaze at me because I am black,

because the sun has stared at me.

The sons of my mother were angry with me;

they made me keeper of the vineyards,

but my own “vineyard”I did not keep.

Dialogue between Shepherdess and Shepherd

7 Tell me, you whom my heartloves,

where do you pasture your flock,

where do your sheep lie down at the noon?

For why should I be likeone who is veiled

beside the flocks of your companions?

8 If you do not know, O fairest among women,

follow the tracksof the flock,

and pasture your little lambsbeside the tents of the shepherds.

Man’s Poetic Praise of His Beloved

9 To a mareamong the chariotsof Pharaoh,

I compare you, my beloved.

10 Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,

your neck with strings of jewels.

11 We will make ornaments of gold for you

with studsof silver.

Maiden’s Poetic Praise of Her Beloved

12 While the king was on his couch,

my nard gave its fragrance.

13 My beloved is to me a pouchof myrrh,

he spends the nightbetween my breasts.

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

in the vineyards of En Gedi.

Mutual Admiration

15 Look! You are beautiful, my beloved.

Look! You are beautiful;

your eyes are doves.

16 Look! You are beautiful, my beloved,

truly pleasant.

Truly our couch is verdant;

17 the beams of our house are cedar;

our rafter is cypress.