Song of Solomon 1
The Song of songs, which is Solomon's.
2 Bride: May he kiss me with the kiss of his mouth. Groom to Bride: So much better than wine are your breasts,
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for your breasts are better than wine.
3 fragranced with the finest perfumes. Bride to Groom: Your name is oil that has been poured out; therefore, the maidens have loved you.
And the smell of your ointments is better than all spices: your name is ointment poured forth; therefore do the young maidens love you.
4 Draw me forward. Chorus to Bride: We will run after you in the odor of your perfumes. Bride to Chorus: The king has led me into his storerooms. Chorus to Bride: We will exult and rejoice in you, remembering your breasts above wine. Groom to Bride: The righteous love you.
They have drawn you: we will run after you, for the smell of your ointments: the king has brought me into closet: let us rejoice and be glad in you; we will love your breasts more than wine: righteousness loves you.
5 Bride to Chorus: O daughters of Jerusalem: I am black, but shapely, like the tabernacles of Kedar, like the tents of Solomon.
I am black, but beautiful, you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not be concerned that I am dark, for the sun has changed my color. The sons of my mother have fought against me. They have made me the keeper of the vineyards. My own vineyard I have not kept.
Look not upon me, because I am dark, because the sun has looked unfavourably upon me: my mother's sons strove with me; they made me keeper in the vineyards; I have not kept my own vineyard.
7 Bride to Groom: Reveal to me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you recline at midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of your companions.
Tell me, [you] whom my soul loves, where you tend your flock, where you cause [them] to rest at noon, lest I become as one that is veiled by the flocks of your companions.
8 Groom to Bride: If you yourself do not know, O most beautiful among women, then go out and follow after the steps of the flocks, and pasture your young goats beside the tabernacles of the shepherds.
If you know not yourself, you fair one among women, go you forth by the footsteps of the flocks, and feed your kids by the shepherd's tents.
9 O my love, I have compared you to my company of horsemen against the chariots of Pharaoh.
I have likened you, my companion, to my horses in the chariots of Pharao.
10 Your cheeks are beautiful, like those of a turtledove. Your neck is like a bejeweled collar.
How are your cheeks beautiful as [those] of a dove, your neck as chains!
11 Chorus to Bride: We will fashion for you chains of gold, accented with reddened silver.
We will make you figures of gold with studs of silver.
12 Bride to Chorus: While the king was taking his rest, my aromatic ointment sent forth its odor.
So long as the king was at table, my spikenard gave forth its smell.
13 My beloved is a bundle of myrrh to me. He shall abide between my breasts.
My kinsman is to me a bundle of myrrh; he shall lie between my breasts.
14 My beloved is a cluster of Cyprus grapes to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi.
My kinsman is to me a cluster of camphor in the vineyards of Engaddi.
15 Groom to Bride: Behold, you are beautiful, O my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are those of a dove.
Behold, you are fair, my companion; behold, you are fair; your eyes are doves.
16 Bride to Groom: Behold, you are handsome, O my beloved, and graceful. Our bed is flourishing.
Behold, you are fair, my kinsman, yes, beautiful, overshadowing our bed.
17 Groom to Bride: The timbers of our houses are of cedar; our ceilings are of cypress.
The beams of our house are cedars, our ceilings are of cypress.
