1This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonderful than any other.
Young Woman1:1 The headings identifying the speakers are not in the original text, though the Hebrew usually gives clues by means of the gender of the person speaking.
2Kiss me and kiss me again,
for your love is sweeter than wine.
3How pleasing is your fragrance;
your name is like the spreading fragrance of scented oils.
No wonder all the young women love you!
4Take me with you; come, let’s run!
The king has brought me into his bedroom.
Young Women of Jerusalem
How happy we are for you, O king.
We praise your love even more than wine.
Young Woman
How right they are to adore you.
5I am dark but beautiful,
O women of Jerusalem—
dark as the tents of Kedar,
dark as the curtains of Solomon’s tents.
6Don’t stare at me because I am dark—
the sun has darkened my skin.
My brothers were angry with me;
they forced me to care for their vineyards,
so I couldn’t care for myself—my own vineyard.
7Tell me, my love, where are you leading your flock today?
Where will you rest your sheep at noon?
For why should I wander like a prostitute1:7 Hebrew like a veiled woman.
among your friends and their flocks?
Young Man
8If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman,
follow the trail of my flock,
and graze your young goats by the shepherds’ tents.
9You are as exciting, my darling,
as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.
10How lovely are your cheeks;
your earrings set them afire!
How lovely is your neck,
enhanced by a string of jewels.
11We will make for you earrings of gold
and beads of silver.
Young Woman
12The king is lying on his couch,
enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume.
13My lover is like a sachet of myrrh
lying between my breasts.
14He is like a bouquet of sweet henna blossoms
from the vineyards of En-gedi.
Young Man
15How beautiful you are, my darling,
how beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves.
Young Woman
16You are so handsome, my love,
pleasing beyond words!
The soft grass is our bed;
17fragrant cedar branches are the beams of our house,
and pleasant smelling firs are the rafters.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
