1 The Song of Songs of Solomon.
2 Bride: Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth!
More delightful is your love than wine!
3 Your name spoken is a
spreading perfume -
that is why the maidens love you.
4 Draw me!-
Daughters of Jerusalem: We will
follow you eagerly!
Bride: Bring me,
O king, to your chambers.
Daughters of Jerusalem: With you
we rejoice and exult,
we extol your love; it is beyond wine:
how rightly you are loved!
(First Poem)
5 Bride: I am as dark-but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem
-
As the tents of Kedar,
as the curtains of Salma.
6 Do not stare at me because
I am swarthy,
because the sun has burned me.
My brothers have been angry with me;
they charged me with the care of the vineyards:
my own vineyard I have not cared for.
7 Bride: Tell me, you whom my heart loves,
where you pasture your flock,
where you give them rest at midday,
Lest I be found wandering
after the flocks of your companions.
8 Bridegroom: If you do not know,
O most beautiful among women,
Follow the tracks of the flock
and pasture the young ones
near the shepherds' camps.
9 Bridegroom: To the steeds of Pharaoh's chariots
would I liken you, my beloved:
10 Your cheeks lovely in
pendants,
your neck in jewels.
11 We will make pendants of
gold for you,
and silver ornaments.
12 Bride: For the king's banquet
my nard gives forth its fragrance.
13 My lover is for me a
sachet of myrrh
to rest in my bosom.
14 My lover is for me a
cluster of henna
from the vineyards of Engedi.
15 Bridegroom: Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,
ah, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves!
16 Bride: Ah, you are beautiful, my lover -
yes, you are lovely.
Our couch, too, is verdant;
17 the beams of our house are
cedars,
our rafters, cypresses.
