1 This is Solomon's most beautiful song.
2 Kiss me tenderly! Your love is better than wine,
3 and you smell so sweet. All the young women adore you; the very mention of your name is like spreading perfume. *
4 Hurry, my king! Let's hurry.
5 Take me to your home. We are happy for you! And we praise your love even more than wine. Young women of Jerusalem, it is only right that you should adore him. My skin is dark and beautiful, like a tent in the desert or like Solomon's curtains.
6 Don't stare at me just because the sun has darkened my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they made me work in the vineyard, and so I neglected my complexion. Don't let the other shepherds think badly of me.
7 I'm not one of those women who shamelessly follow after shepherds. My darling, I love you! Where do you feed your sheep and let them rest at noon?
8 My dearest, if you don't know, just follow the path of the sheep. Then feed your young goats near the shepherds' tents.
9 You move as gracefully as the pony that leads the chariot of the king.
10 Earrings add to your beauty, and you wear a necklace of precious stones.
11 Let's make you some jewelry of gold, woven with silver.
12 My king, while you were on your couch, my love was a magic charm.
13 My darling, you are perfume between my breasts;
14 you are flower blossoms from the gardens of En-Gedi.
15 My darling, you are lovely, so very lovely-- your eyes are those of a dove.
16 My love, you are handsome, truly handsome-- the fresh green grass will be our wedding bed
17 in the shade of cedar and cypress trees.
1 I am merely a rose from the land of Sharon, a lily from the valley.
2 My darling, when compared with other young women, you are a lily among thorns.
3 And you, my love, are an apple tree among trees of the forest. Your shade brought me pleasure; your fruit was sweet.
4 You led me to your banquet room and showered me with love.
5 Refresh and strengthen me with raisins and apples. I am hungry for love!
6 Put your left hand under my head and embrace me with your right arm.
7 Young women of Jerusalem, promise me by the power of deer and gazelles never to awaken love before it is ready.
8 I hear the voice of the one I love, as he comes leaping over mountains and hills
9 like a deer or a gazelle. Now he stands outside our wall, looking through the window
10 and speaking to me. My darling, I love you! Let's go away together.
11 Winter is past, the rain has stopped;
12 flowers cover the earth, it's time to sing. The cooing of doves is heard in our land.
13 Fig trees are bearing fruit, while blossoms on grapevines fill the air with perfume. My darling, I love you! Let's go away together.
14 You are my dove hiding among the rocks on the side of a cliff. Let me see how lovely you are! Let me hear the sound of your melodious voice.
15 Our vineyards are in blossom; we must catch the little foxes that destroy the vineyards.
16 My darling, I am yours, and you are mine, as you feed your sheep among the lilies.
17 Pretend to be a young deer dancing on mountain slopes until daylight comes and shadows fade away.
1 While in bed at night, I reached for the one I love with heart and soul. I looked for him, but he wasn't there.
2 So I searched through the town for the one I love. I looked on every street, but he wasn't there.
3 I even asked the guards patrolling the town, "Have you seen the one I love so much?"
4 Right after that, I found him. I held him and would not let go until I had taken him to the home of my mother.
5 Young women of Jerusalem, promise me by the power of deer and gazelles, never to awaken love before it is ready.
6 What do we see approaching from the desert like a cloud of smoke? With it comes the sweet smell of spices, including myrrh and frankincense.
7 It is King Solomon carried on a throne, surrounded by sixty of Israel's best soldiers.
8 Each of them wears a sword. They are experts at fighting, even in the dark.
9 The throne is made of trees from Lebanon.
10 Its posts are silver, the back is gold, and the seat is covered with purple cloth. You women of Jerusalem have taken great care to furnish the inside.
11 Now come and see the crown given to Solomon by his mother on his happy wedding day.
1 My darling, you are lovely, so very lovely-- as you look through your veil, your eyes are those of a dove. Your hair tosses about as gracefully as goats coming down from Gilead.
2 Your teeth are whiter than sheep freshly washed; they match perfectly, not one is missing.
3 Your lips are crimson cords, your mouth is shapely; behind your veil are hidden beautiful rosy cheeks.
4 Your neck is more graceful than the tower of David, decorated with thousands of warriors' shields.
5 Your breasts are perfect; they are twin deer feeding among lilies.
6 I will hasten to those hills sprinkled with sweet perfume and stay there till sunrise.
7 My darling, you are lovely in every way.
8 My bride, together we will leave Lebanon! We will say good-by to the peaks of Mount Amana, Senir, and Hermon, where lions and leopards live in the caves.
9 My bride, my very own, you have stolen my heart! With one glance from your eyes and the glow of your necklace, you have stolen my heart.
10 Your love is sweeter than wine; the smell of your perfume is more fragrant than spices.
11 Your lips are a honeycomb; milk and honey flow from your tongue. Your dress has the aroma of cedar trees from Lebanon.
12 My bride, my very own, you are a garden, a fountain closed off to all others.
13 Your arms are vines, covered with delicious fruits and all sorts of spices-- henna, nard,
14 saffron, calamus, cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh, and aloes --all the finest spices.
15 You are a spring in the garden, a fountain of pure water, and a refreshing stream from Mount Lebanon.
16 Let the north wind blow, the south wind too! Let them spread the aroma of my garden, so the one I love may enter and taste its delicious fruits.
1 My bride, my very own, I come to my garden and enjoy its spices. I eat my honeycomb and honey; I drink my wine and milk. Eat and drink until you are drunk with love.
2 I was asleep, but dreaming: The one I love was at the door, knocking and saying, "My darling, my very own, my flawless dove, open the door for me! My head is drenched with evening dew."
3 But I had already undressed and bathed my feet. Should I dress again and get my feet dirty?
4 Then my darling's hand reached to open the latch, and my heart stood still.
5 When I rose to open the door, my hands and my fingers dripped with perfume.
6 My heart stood still while he spoke to me, but when I opened the door, my darling had disappeared. I searched and shouted, but I could not find him-- there was no answer.
7 Then I was found by the guards patrolling the town and guarding the wall. They beat me up and stripped off my robe.
8 Young women of Jerusalem, if you find the one I love, please say to him, "She is weak with desire."
9 Most beautiful of women, why is the one you love more special than others? Why do you ask us to tell him how you feel?
10 He is handsome and healthy, the most outstanding among ten thousand.
11 His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are a pair of doves bathing in a stream flowing with milk.
13 His face is a garden of sweet-smelling spices; his lips are lilies dripping with perfume.
14 His arms are branches of gold covered with jewels; his body is ivory decorated with sapphires.
15 His legs are columns of marble on feet of gold. He stands there majestic like Mount Lebanon and its choice cedar trees.
16 His kisses are sweet. I desire him so much! Young women of Jerusalem, he is my lover and friend.
1 Most beautiful of women, tell us where he has gone. Let us help you find him.
2 My darling has gone down to his garden of spices, where he will feed his sheep and gather lilies.
3 I am his, and he is mine, as he feeds his sheep among the lilies.
4 My dearest, the cities of Tirzah and Jerusalem are not as lovely as you. Your charms are more powerful than all of the stars in the heavens.
5 Turn away your eyes-- they make me melt. Your hair tosses about as gracefully as goats coming down from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are whiter than sheep freshly washed; they match perfectly, not one is missing.
7 Behind your veil are hidden beautiful rosy cheeks.
8 What if I could have sixty queens, eighty wives, and thousands of others!
9 You would be my only choice, my flawless dove, the favorite child of your mother. The young women, the queens, and all the others tell how excited you are as they sing your praises:
10 "You are as majestic as the morning sky-- glorious as the moon-- blinding as the sun! Your charms are more powerful than all the stars above."
11 I went down to see if blossoms were on the walnut trees, grapevines, and fruit trees.
12 But in my imagination I was suddenly riding on a glorious chariot.
13 Dance! Dance! Beautiful woman from Shulam, let us see you dance! Why do you want to see this woman from Shulam dancing with the others?
1 You are a princess, and your feet are graceful in their sandals. Your thighs are works of art, each one a jewel;
2 your navel is a wine glass filled to overflowing. Your body is full and slender like a bundle of wheat bound together by lilies.
3 Your breasts are like twins of a deer.
4 Your neck is like ivory, and your eyes sparkle like the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. Your nose is beautiful like Mount Lebanon above the city of Damascus.
5 Your head is held high like Mount Carmel; your hair is so lovely it holds a king prisoner.
6 You are beautiful, so very desirable!
7 You are tall and slender like a palm tree, and your breasts are full.
8 I will climb that tree and cling to its branches. I will discover that your breasts are clusters of grapes, and that your breath is the aroma of apples.
9 Kissing you is more delicious than drinking the finest wine. How wonderful and tasty!
10 My darling, I am yours, and you desire me.
11 Let's stroll through the fields and sleep in the villages.
12 At dawn let's slip out and see if grapevines and fruit trees are covered with blossoms. When we are there, I will give you my love.
13 Perfume from the magic flower fills the air, my darling. Right at our doorstep I have stored up for you all kinds of tasty fruits.
1 If you were my brother, I could kiss you whenever we happen to meet, and no one would say I did wrong.
2 I could take you to the home of my mother, who taught me all I know. I would give you delicious wine and fruit juice as well.
3 Put your left hand under my head and embrace me with your right arm.
4 Young women of Jerusalem, promise me by the power of deer and gazelles never to awaken love before it is ready.
5 Who is this young woman coming in from the desert and leaning on the shoulder of the one she loves? I stirred up your passions under the apple tree where you were born.
6 Always keep me in your heart and wear this bracelet to remember me by. The passion of love bursting into flame is more powerful than death, stronger than the grave.
7 Love cannot be drowned by oceans or floods; it cannot be bought, no matter what is offered. Their Friends Speak:
8 We have a little sister whose breasts are not yet formed. If someone asks to marry her, what should we do?
9 She isn't a wall that we can defend behind a silver shield. Neither is she a room that we can protect behind a wooden door.
10 I am a wall around a city, my breasts are towers, and just looking at me brings him great pleasure.
11 Solomon has a vineyard at Baal-Hamon, which he rents to others for a thousand pieces of silver each.
12 My vineyard is mine alone! Solomon can keep his silver and the others can keep their share of the profits.
13 You are in the garden with friends all around. Let me hear your voice!
14 Hurry to me, my darling! Run faster than a deer to mountains of spices.