¹This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonderful than any other.

Young Woman

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. How happy we are for you, O king. We praise your love even more than wine. How right they are to adore you.

Young Women of Jerusalem Young Woman

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 prostitute 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.