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THE

Song of Solomon

1The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

Colloquy of Bride and Friends

² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine,
³   your anointing oils are fragrant,
your name is perfume poured out;
   therefore the maidens love you.
⁴ Draw me after you, let us make haste.
   The king has brought me into his chambers.
We will exult and rejoice in you;
   we will extol your love more than wine;
   rightly do they love you.

⁵ I am black and beautiful,
   O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
   like the curtains of Solomon.
⁶ Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
   because the sun has gazed on me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
   they made me keeper of the vineyards,
   but my own vineyard I have not kept!
⁷ Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
   where you pasture your flock,
   where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who is veiled
   beside the flocks of your companions?

⁸ If you do not know,
   O fairest among women,
follow the tracks of the flock,
   and pasture your kids
   beside the shepherds’ tents.

Colloquy of Bridegroom, Friends, and Bride

⁹ I compare you, my love,
   to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
¹⁰ Your cheeks are comely with ornaments,
   your neck with strings of jewels.
¹¹ We will make you ornaments of gold,
   studded with silver.

¹² While the king was on his couch,
   my nard gave forth its fragrance.
¹³ My beloved is to me a bag of myrrh
   that lies between my breasts.
¹⁴ My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
   in the vineyards of En-gedi.

¹⁵ Ah, you are beautiful, my love;
   ah, you are beautiful;
   your eyes are doves.
¹⁶ Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,
   truly lovely.
Our couch is green;
¹⁷   the beams of our house are cedar,
   our rafters^* are pine.

2I am a rose^* of Sharon,
   a lily of the valleys.

² As a lily among brambles,
   so is my love among maidens.

³ As an apple tree among the trees of the wood,
   so is my beloved among young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
   and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
⁴ He brought me to the banqueting house,
   and his intention towards me was love.
⁵ Sustain me with raisins,
   refresh me with apples;
   for I am faint with love.
⁶ O that his left hand were under my head,
   and that his right hand embraced me!
⁷ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
   by the gazelles or the wild does:
do not stir up or awaken love
   until it is ready!

Springtime Rhapsody

⁸ The voice of my beloved!
   Look, he comes,
leaping upon the mountains,
   bounding over the hills.
⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle
   or a young stag.
Look, there he stands
   behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
   looking through the lattice.
¹⁰ My beloved speaks and says to me:
‘Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away;
¹¹ for now the winter is past,
   the rain is over and gone.
¹² The flowers appear on the earth;
   the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove
   is heard in our land.
¹³ The fig tree puts forth its figs,
   and the vines are in blossom;
   they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away.
¹⁴ O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
   in the covert of the cliff,
let me see your face,
   let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
   and your face is lovely.
¹⁵ Catch us the foxes,
   the little foxes,
that ruin the vineyards—
   for our vineyards are in blossom.’

¹⁶ My beloved is mine and I am his;
   he pastures his flock among the lilies.
¹⁷ Until the day breathes
   and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
   or a young stag on the cleft mountains.^*