1 The song of songs, which is Solomon's.

2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for your love is better than wine.

3 Because of the smell of your good ointments your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love you.

4 Draw me, we will run after you: the king has brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in you, we will remember your love more than wine: the upright love you.

5 I am black, but comely, O you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

6 Look not on me, because I am black, because the sun has looked on me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard have I not kept.

7 Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed, where you make your flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks of your companions?

8 If you know not, O you fairest among women, go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed your kids beside the shepherds' tents.

9 I have compared you, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.

10 Your cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, your neck with chains of gold.

11 We will make you borders of gold with studs of silver.

12 While the king sits at his table, my spikenard sends forth the smell thereof.

13 A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved to me; he shall lie all night between my breasts.

14 My beloved is to me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.

15 Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair; you have doves' eyes.

16 Behold, you are fair, my beloved, yes, pleasant: also our bed is green.

17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

The Song of songs, i. e., the best or most excellent of songs.

Which is Solomon s - literally, to or for Solomon, i. e., belonging to Solomon as its author or concerning him as its subject. In a title or inscription, the former interpretation is to be preferred.

the prologue. - The Song commences with two stanzas in praise of the king (now absent) by a chorus of virgins belonging to the royal household. Expositors, Jewish and Christian, interpret the whole as spoken by the Church of the heavenly Bridegroom.

Son 1:2

Let him kiss me - Christian expositors have regarded this as a prayer of the Church under the old covenant for closer communion with the Godhead through the Incarnation. Thus, Gregory: Every precept of Christ received by the Church is as one of His kisses.

Thy love - Better as margin, i. e., thy endearments or tokens of affection are more desired than any other delights.

Son 1:3

Because ... - Better, For fragrance are thine ointments good, making with the clause that follows two steps of a climax: thy perfumes are good, thy name the best of all perfumes. Ointments here are unguents or fragrant oils largely used for anointing at entertainments (compare Psa 23:5; Luk 7:46; Joh 12:3).

Thy name ... poured forth - As unguents are the sweeter for diffusion, so the king s name the wider it is known.

Son 1:4

The king hath brought me - Made me a member of his household. This is true of every member of the chorus as well as of the bride.

The upright love thee - Better as in the margin: uprightly do they (i. e., the virgins of Son 1:3) love thee. Compare the use of the same word in Psa 58:1; Pro 23:31.

This section is made by the Targumist and other Jewish interpreters to adumbrate the condition of Israel in the wilderness; by some Christian expositors, that of the Gentile Church on her first conversion.

Son 1:5

I am black ... - Dark-hued, as the tents of Kedar with their black goats hair coverings, rough and weather-stained, but comely (beautiful) as the rich hangings which adorn the pavilion of Solomon. Kedar was the name of an Arab tribe Gen 25:13; Psa 120:5. The word itself signifies dark or black. Possibly tents of Kedar stand here poetically for shepherds tents in general Isa 60:7.

Son 1:6

Look not upon me - In wonder or scorn at my swarthy hue. It was acquired in enforced but honest toil: the sun hath scanned me (or glared upon me ) with his burning eye. The second word rendered looked is a word twice found in Job Job 20:9; Job 28:7, and indicates in the latter place the piercing glance of a bird of prey.

My mother s children, - Or, sons; a more affectionate designation than brothers, and implying the most intimate relationship.

Angry - This anger was perhaps but a form of jealous care for their sister s safety (compare Son 8:12). By engaging her in rustic labors they preserved her from idleness and temptation, albeit with a temporary loss of outward comeliness.

Mine own vineyard - A figurative expression for herself or her beauty.

Son 1:7

whom my soul loveth - A phrase recurring several times. It expresses great intensity of affection.

Feedest - i. e., Pursuest thy occupation as a shepherd; so she speaks figuratively of the Son of David. Compare Son 2:16; Son 6:3; Psa 23:1.

Rest - Or, lie down; a term properly used of the couching of four-footed animals: thy flock is here therefore easily understood. Compare Eze 34:14-15; Psa 23:2; Jer 50:6.

As one that turneth aside - Or, goeth astray like an outcast.

Son 1:8

The chorus, and not the king, are the speakers here. Their meaning seems to be: If thy beloved be indeed a shepherd, then seek him yonder among other shepherds, but if a king, thou wilt find him here in his royal dwelling.

This and the next Cant. 1:15 2:7 sections are regarded by ancient commentators (Jewish and Christian) as expressing the love of espousals Jer 2:2 between the Holy One and His Church, first in the wilderness of the Exodus, and then in the wilderness of the world Eze 20:35-36.

Son 1:9

Or, to a mare of mine in the chariots of Pharaoh I liken thee, O my friend. (The last word is the feminine form of that rendered friend at Son 5:16.) The comparison of the bride to a beautiful horse is singularly like one in Theocritus, and some have conjectured that the Greek poet, having read at Alexandria the Septuagint Version of the Song, may have borrowed these thoughts from it. If so, we have here the first instance of an influence of sacred on profane literature. The simile is especially appropriate on the lips, or from the pen, of Solomon, who first brought horses and chariots from Egypt 1Ki 10:28-29. As applied to the bride it expresses the stately and imposing character of her beauty.

Son 1:10, Son 1:11

Rows ... borders - The same Hebrew word in both places; ornaments forming part of the bride s head-dress, probably strings of beads or other ornaments descending on the cheeks. The introduction of jewels and gold in Son 1:10 injures the sense and destroys the climax of Son 1:11, which was spoken by a chorus (hence we, not I, as when the king speaks, Son 1:9). They promise the bride ornaments more worthy and becoming than the rustic attire in which she has already such charms for the king: Ornaments of gold will we make for thee with studs (or points ) of silver. The studs are little silver ornaments which it is proposed to affix to the golden (compare Pro 25:12), or substitute for the strung beads of the bride s necklace.

Son 1:12-14

The bride s reply Son 1:12 may mean, While the king reclines at the banquet I anoint him with my costliest perfume, but he has for me a yet sweeter fragrance Son 1:13-14. According to Origen s interpretation, the bride represents herself as anointing the king, like Mary Joh 12:3, with her most precious unguents.

Spikenard - An unguent of great esteem in the ancient world, retaining its Indian name in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. It is obtained from an Indian plant now called jatamansi.

Son 1:13

Render: A bag of myrrh is my beloved to me, which lodgeth in my bosom.

Son 1:14

Camphire - Rather, כפר ko pher, from which cyprus is probably derived (in the margin misspelled cypress ),the name by which the plant called by the Arabs henna was known to the Greeks and Romans. It is still much esteemed throughout the East for the fragrance of its flowers and the dye extracted from its leaves. Engedi was famous for its vines, and the henna may have been cultivated with the vines in the same enclosures.