Song of Songs 1; Song of Songs 2; Song of Songs 3

1

2 [Woman]If only he would give me some of his kisses . . . Oh, your loving is sweeter than wine!

3 Your fragrance is sweet; your very name is perfume. That's why the young women love you.

4 Take me along with you; let's run! My king has brought me into his chambers, saying, "Let's exult and rejoice in you. Let's savor your loving more than wine. No wonder they all love you!"

5 Dark am I, and lovely, daughters of Jerusalem— like the black tents of the Kedar nomads, like the curtains of Solomon's palace.

6 Don't stare at me because I'm darkened by the sun's gaze. My own brothers were angry with me. They made me a caretaker of the vineyards— but I couldn't care for my own vineyard.

7 Tell me, you whom I love with all my heart— where do you pasture your flock, where do you rest them at noon?— so I don't wander around with the flocks of your companions.

8 [Man]If you don't know your way, most beautiful of women, then follow the tracks of the herds and graze your little goats by the tents of the shepherds.

9 I picture you, my dearest, as a mare among Pharaoh's chariots!

10 Lovely are your cheeks, adorned with ear hoops; your neck, with beads.

11 Let's make hoops of gold beaded with silver for you!

12 With my king close by, my perfume filled the air.

13 A sachet of myrrh is my love to me, lying all night between my breasts.

14 A cluster of henna flowers is my love to me in the desert gardens of En-gedi.

15 [Man]Look at you—so beautiful, my dearest! Look at you—so beautiful! Your eyes are doves!

16 [Woman]Look at you—so beautiful, my love! Yes, delightful! Yes, our bed is lush and green!

17 The ceilings of our chambers are cedars; our rafters, cypresses.

1 [Woman]I'm a rose of the Sharon plain, a lily of the valleys.

2 [Man]Like a lily among thornbushes, so is my dearest among the young women.

3 [Woman]Like an apple tree among the wild trees, so is my lover among the young men. In his shade I take pleasure in sitting, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

4 He has brought me to the house of wine; his banner raised over me is love.

5 Sustain me with raisin cakes, strengthen me with apples, for I'm weak with love!

6 His left arm is beneath my head, his right embraces me.

7 Make a solemn pledge, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the wild deer: Don't rouse, don't arouse love until it desires.

8 Listen! It's my lover: here he comes now, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.

9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Here he stands now, outside our wall, peering through the windows, peeking through the lattices.

10 My lover spoke and said to me, "Rise up, my dearest, my fairest, and go.

11 Here, the winter is past; the rains have come and gone.

12 Blossoms have appeared in the land; the season of singing has arrived, and the sound of the turtledove is heard in our land.

13 The green fruit is on the fig tree, and the grapevines in bloom are fragrant. Rise up, my dearest, my fairest, and go.

14 My dove—in the rock crevices, hidden in the cliff face— let me catch sight of you; let me hear your voice! The sound of your voice is sweet, and the sight of you is lovely."

15 Catch foxes for us— those little foxes that spoil vineyards, now that our vineyards are in bloom!

16 I belong to my lover and he belongs to me— the one grazing among the lilies.

17 Before the day breeze blows and the shadows flee, turn about, my love; be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the jagged mountains.

1 [Woman]Upon my bed, night after night, I looked for the one whom I love with all my heart. I looked for him but couldn't find him.

2 "I will rise now and go all around the city, through the streets and the squares. I will look for the one whom I love with all my heart." I looked for him but couldn't find him.

3 The guards found me, those who make their rounds in the city. "The one whom I love with all my heart— have you seen him?"

4 No sooner did I depart from them than I found the one whom I love with all my heart. I held on to him and now I won't let him go, until I've brought him to my mother's house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

5 I place you under oath, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the wild deer: don't rouse, don't arouse love until it desires.

6 Who is this, coming up from the wilderness, like pillars of smoke? She is perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, selected from all the spice merchant's powders.

7 Picture Solomon's bed— sixty heroic men round about it, all from the heroes of Israel,

8 all of them skilled with the sword, expert in warfare, each with his sword ready at his thigh against terrors that come by night.

9 King Solomon made a canopied couch for himself from the trees of Lebanon.

10 Its pillars he made of silver, its covering, cloth of gold, its cushions, royal purple; its interior inlaid with love. Daughters of Jerusalem,

11 go forth! Look, daughters of Zion— on King Solomon wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of his heart's joy.