1:1 The song of Songs, which is Solomon's.
1:2 Let him give me the kisses of his mouth: for his love is
better than wine.
1:3 Sweet is the smell of your perfumes; your name is as
perfume
running out; so the
young girls give you their love.
1:4 Take me to you, and we will go after you: the king has
taken
me into his house. We
will be glad and full of joy in you, we
will give more
thought to your love than to wine: rightly are
they your lovers.
1:5 I am dark, but fair of form, O daughters of Jerusalem,
as
the tents of Kedar,
as the curtains of Solomon.
1:6 Let not your eyes be turned on me, because I am dark,
because I was looked
on by the sun; my mother's children were
angry with me; they
made me the keeper of the vine-gardens; but
my vine-garden I have
not kept.
1:7 Say, O love of my soul, where you give food to your
flock,
and where you make
them take their rest in the heat of the day;
why have I to be as
one wandering by the flocks of your
friends?
1:8 If you have not knowledge, O most beautiful among women,
go
on your way in the
footsteps of the flock, and give your young
goats food by the
tents of the keepers.
1:9 I have made a comparison of you, O my love, to a horse
in
Pharaoh's carriages.
1:10 Your face is a delight with rings of hair, your neck
with
chains of jewels.
1:11 We will make you chains of gold with ornaments of
silver.
1:12 While the king is seated at his table, my spices send
out
their perfume.
1:13 As a bag of myrrh is my well-loved one to me, when he
is at
rest all night
between my breasts.
1:14 My love is to me as a branch of the cypress-tree in the
vine-gardens of
En-gedi.
1:15 See, you are fair, my love, you are fair; you have the
eyes
of a dove.
1:16 See, you are fair, my loved one, and a pleasure; our
bed is
green.
1:17 Cedar-trees are the pillars of our house; and our
boards
are made of
fir-trees.
2:1 I am a rose of Sharon, a flower of the valleys.
2:2 As the lily-flower among the thorns of the waste, so is
my
love among the
daughters.
2:3 As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my
loved one among the
sons. I took my rest under his shade with
great delight, and
his fruit was sweet to my taste.
2:4 He took me to the house of wine, and his flag over me
was
love.
2:5 Make me strong with wine-cakes, let me be comforted with
apples; I am overcome
with love.
2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand is
round
about me.
2:7 I say to you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes of
the
field, do not let
love be moved till it is ready.
2:8 The voice of my loved one! See, he comes dancing on the
mountains, stepping
quickly on the hills.
2:9 My loved one is like a roe; see, he is on the other side
of
our wall, he is
looking in at the windows, letting himself be
seen through the
spaces.
2:10 My loved one said to me, Get up, my love, my fair one,
and
come away.
2:11 For, see, the winter is past, the rain is over and
gone;
2:12 The flowers are come on the earth; the time of cutting
the
vines is come, and
the voice of the dove is sounding in our
land;
2:13 The fig-tree puts out her green fruit and the vines
with
their young fruit
give a good smell. Get up from your bed, my
beautiful one, and
come away.
2:14 O my dove, you are in the holes of the mountain sides,
in
the cracks of the
high hills; let me see your face, let your
voice come to my
ears; for sweet is your voice, and your face
is fair.
2:15 Take for us the foxes, the little foxes, which do
damage to
the vines; our vines
have young grapes.
2:16 My loved one is mine, and I am his: he takes his food
among
the flowers.
2:17 Till the evening comes, and the sky slowly becomes
dark,
come, my loved one,
and be like a roe on the mountains of
Bether.
3:1 By night on my bed I was looking for him who is the love
of
my soul: I was
looking for him, but I did not see him.
3:2 I will get up now and go about the town, in the streets
and
in the wide ways I
will go after him who is the love of my
soul: I went after
him, but I did not see him.
3:3 The watchmen who go about the town came by me; to them I
said, Have you seen
him who is my heart's desire?
3:4 I was but a little way from them, when I came face to
face
with him who is the
love of my soul. I took him by the hands,
and did not let him
go, till I had taken him into my mother's
house, and into the
room of her who gave me birth.
3:5 I say to you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes of
the
field, let not love
be moved till it is ready.
3:6 Who is this coming out of the waste places like pillars
of
smoke, perfumed with
sweet spices, with all the spices of the
trader?
3:7 See, it is the bed of Solomon; sixty men of war are
about
it, of the army of
Israel,
3:8 All of them armed with swords, trained in war; every man
has
his sword at his
side, because of fear in the night.
3:9 King Solomon made himself a bed of the wood of Lebanon.
3:10 He made its pillars of silver, its base of gold, its
seat
of purple, the middle
of it of ebony.
3:11 Go out, O daughters of Jerusalem, and see King Solomon,
with the crown which
his mother put on his head on the day when
he was married, and
on the day of the joy of his heart.
4:1 See, you are fair, my love, you are fair; you have the
eyes
of a dove; your hair
is as a flock of goats, which take their
rest on the side of
Gilead.
4:2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep whose wool is newly
cut, which come up
from the washing; every one has two lambs,
and there is not one
without young.
4:3 Your red lips are like a bright thread, and your mouth
is
fair of form; the sides
of your head are like pomegranate fruit
under your veil.
4:4 Your neck is like the tower of David made for a
store-house
of arms, in which a
thousand breastplates are hanging,
breastplates for
fighting-men.
4:5 Your two breasts are like two young roes of the same
birth,
which take their food
among the lilies.
4:6 Till the evening comes, and the sky slowly becomes dark,
I
will go to the
mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of
frankincense.
4:7 You are all fair, my love; there is no mark on you.
4:8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from
Lebanon;
see from the top of
Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon,
from the places of
the lions, from the mountains of the
leopards.
4:9 You have taken away my heart, my sister, my bride; you
have
taken away my heart,
with one look you have taken it, with one
chain of your neck!
4:10 How fair is your love, my sister! How much better is
your
love than wine, and
the smell of your oils than any perfume!
4:11 Your lips are dropping honey; honey and milk are under
your
tongue; and the smell
of your clothing is like the smell of
Lebanon.
4:12 A garden walled-in is my sister, my bride; a garden
shut
up, a spring of water
stopped.
4:13 The produce of the garden is pomegranates; with all the
best fruits, henna
and spikenard,
4:14 Spikenard and safron; calamus and cinnamon, with all
trees
of frankincense;
myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.
4:15 You are a fountain of gardens, a spring of living
waters,
and flowing waters
from Lebanon.
4:16 Be awake, O north wind; and come, O south, blowing on
my
garden, so that its
spices may come out. Let my loved one come
into his garden, and
take of his good fruits.
5:1 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; to take
my
myrrh with my spice;
my wax with my honey; my wine with my
milk. Take meat, O
friends; take wine, yes, be overcome with
love.
5:2 I am sleeping, but my heart is awake; it is the sound of
my
loved one at the
door, saying, Be open to me, my sister, my
love, my dove, my
very beautiful one; my head is wet with dew,
and my hair with the
drops of the night.
5:3 I have put off my coat; how may I put it on? My feet are
washed; how may I
make them unclean?
5:4 My loved one put his hand on the door, and my heart was
moved for him.
5:5 I got up to let my loved one in; and my hands were
dropping
with myrrh, and my
fingers with liquid myrrh, on the lock of
the door.
5:6 I made the door open to my loved one; but my loved one
had
taken himself away,
and was gone, my soul was feeble when his
back was turned on
me; I went after him, but I did not come
near him; I said his
name, but he gave me no answer.
5:7 The keepers who go about the town overtook me; they gave
me
blows and wounds; the
keepers of the walls took away my veil
from me.
5:8 I say to you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you see my
loved
one, what will you
say to him? That I am overcome with love.
5:9 What is your loved one more than another, O fairest
among
women? What is your
loved one more than another, that you say
this to us?
5:10 My loved one is white and red, the chief among ten
thousand.
5:11 His head is as the most delicate gold; his hair is
thick,
and black as a raven.
5:12 His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the water streams,
washed with milk, and
rightly placed.
5:13 His face is as beds of spices, giving out perfumes of
every
sort; his lips like
lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
5:14 His hands are as rings of gold ornamented with
beryl-stones; his
body is as a smooth plate of ivory covered
with sapphires.
5:15 His legs are as pillars of stone on a base of delicate
gold; his looks are
as Lebanon, beautiful as the cedar-tree.
5:16 His mouth is most sweet; yes, he is all beautiful. This
is
my loved one, and
this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
6:1 Where is your loved one gone, O most fair among women?
Where
is your loved one
turned away, that we may go looking for him
with you?
6:2 My loved one is gone down into his garden, to the beds
of
spices, to take food
in the gardens, and to get lilies.
6:3 I am for my loved one, and my loved one is for me; he
takes
food among the
lilies.
6:4 You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, as fair as
Jerusalem; you are to
be feared like an army with flags.
6:5 Let your eyes be turned away from me; see, they have
overcome me; your
hair is as a flock of goats which take their
rest on the side of
Gilead.
6:6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which come up from
the
washing; every one
has two lambs, and there is not one without
young.
6:7 Like pomegranate fruit are the sides of your head under
your
veil.
6:8 There are sixty queens, and eighty servant-wives, and
young
girls without number.
6:9 My dove, my very beautiful one, is but one; she is the
only
one of her mother,
she is the dearest one of her who gave her
birth. The daughters
saw her, and gave her a blessing; yes, the
queens and the
servant-wives, and they gave her praises.
6:10 Who is she, looking down as the morning light, fair as
the
moon, clear as the
sun, who is to be feared like an army with
flags?
6:11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the green
plants
of the valley, and to
see if the vine was in bud, and the
pomegranate-trees
were in flower.
6:12 Before I was conscious of it, ...
6:13 Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come
back,
so that our eyes may
see you. What will you see in the
Shulammite? A
sword-dance.
7:1 How beautiful are your feet in their shoes, O king's
daughter! The curves
of your legs are like jewels, the work of
the hands of a good
workman:
7:2 Your stomach is a store of grain with lilies round it,
and
in the middle a round
cup full of wine.
7:3 Your two breasts are like two young roes of the same
birth.
7:4 Your neck is as a tower of ivory; your eyes like the
waters
in Heshbon, by the
doorway of Bath-rabbim; your nose is as the
tower on Lebanon
looking over Damascus:
7:5 Your head is like Carmel, and the hair of your head is
like
purple, in whose net
the king is prisoner.
7:6 How beautiful and how sweet you are, O love, for
delight.
7:7 You are tall like a palm-tree, and your breasts are like
the
fruit of the vine.
7:8 I said, Let me go up the palm-tree, and let me take its
branches in my hands:
your breasts will be as the fruit of the
vine, and the smell
of your breath like apples;
7:9 And the roof of your mouth like good wine flowing down
smoothly for my loved
one, moving gently over my lips and my
teeth.
7:10 I am for my loved one, and his desire is for me.
7:11 Come, my loved one, let us go out into the field; let
us
take rest among the
cypress-trees.
7:12 Let us go out early to the vine-gardens; let us see if
the
vine is in bud, if it
has put out its young fruit, and the
pomegranate is in
flower. There I will give you my love.
7:13 The mandrakes give out a sweet smell, and at our doors
are
all sorts of good
fruits, new and old, which I have kept for my
loved one.
8:1 Oh that you were my brother, who took milk from my
mother's
breasts! When I came
to you in the street, I would give you
kisses; yes, I would
not be looked down on.
8:2 I would take you by the hand into my mother's house, and
she
would be my teacher.
I would give you drink of spiced wine,
drink of the
pomegranate.
8:3 His left hand would be under my head, and his right hand
about me.
8:4 I say to you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not let love
be
moved till it is
ready.
8:5 Who is this, who comes up from the waste places, resting
on
her loved one? It was
I who made you awake under the
apple-tree, where
your mother gave you birth; there she was in
pain at your birth.
8:6 Put me as a sign on your heart, as a sign on your arm;
love
is strong as death,
and wrath bitter as the underworld: its
coals are coals of
fire; violent are its flames.
8:7 Much water may not put out love, or the deep waters
overcome
it: if a man would
give all the substance of his house for
love, it would be
judged a price not great enough.
8:8 We have a young sister, and she has no breasts; what are
we
to do for our sister
in the day when she is given to a man?
8:9 If she is a wall, we will make on her a strong base of
silver; and if she is
a door, we will let her be shut up with
cedar-wood.
8:10 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; then was I
in
his eyes as one to
whom good chance had come.
8:11 Solomon had a vine-garden at Baal-hamon; he let out the
vine-garden to
keepers; every one had to give a thousand bits
of silver for its
fruit.
8:12 My vine-garden, which is mine, is before me: you, O
Solomon, will have
the thousand, and those who keep the fruit
of them two hundred.
8:13 You who have your resting-place in the gardens, the
friends
give ear to your
voice; make me give ear to it.
8:14 Come quickly, my loved one, and be like a roe on the
mountains of spice.