Introduction
The Woman
1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine.
3 Your anointing oils are fragrant, your name is oil poured out; therefore the virgins love you.
The Woman
4 Draw me after you, let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers.
Friends of the Woman
We will exult and rejoice in you; We will exult and rejoice in you;we will remember your love more than wine; rightly do they love you.
5 I am dark, but still lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me, because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept.
Friends of the Woman
7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who veils herself by the flocks of your companions?
The Man
8 If you do not know, O fairest among women, follow in the tracks of the flock, and pasture your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
Friends of the Woman
10 Lovely are your cheeks with ornaments, your neck with chains of gold.
The Woman
11 We will make you ornaments of gold, with studs of silver.
12 While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh that lies all night between my breasts.
The Man
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En Gedi.
The Woman
15 How fair you are, my love. How fair you are! Your eyes are doves.
16 How fair you are, my beloved! Yes, pleasant! Our bed is verdant;
17 the beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.
