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.

Son 1:1. Superscription by the collector or a later editor describing the whole book as the noblest or the most beautiful of Solomon's songs ( 1Ki 4:32).

Son 1:2-4. A brief song by the bride or one of the wedding guests expressive of the bride's love for the bridegroom, and suggesting by the symbols of perfume and wine the power of his attraction.

Son 1:2. The exchange of person is puzzling, and it is proposed to change thy to his, or the reverse, but MT is supported by LXX, and there may have been much freedom in dramatio songs of this type, helped out by gestures. love, etc., i.e. caresses (LXX has breasts) are pleasanter than wine ( Son 1:4; Son 4:10).

Son 1:3. In the original the words for name and ointment are similar in sound (cf. Ecc 7:1 *); in such word-play the ancients took delight. The name is not a mere label, it has a close connexion with the person ( Gen 32:29 *); even as the fine ointment or perfume that he uses, he spreads abroad an air of pleasantness. Perhaps for poured forth, costly should be read. virgins, the young women, companions of the bride.

Son 1:4. It has been suggested that the second clause of this verse should be placed at the beginning of the following verse; it suits very well there, and is difficult to explain here. make mention of thy love: better celebrate thy caresses; but some scholars suggest a verb of similar sound meaning to intoxicate with.

Son 1:5 f. The Bride Rejoices in her Beauty. She has lived an open-air life and been exposed to the sun, so that she has not the white, delicate complexion of the city-dweller, but the ruddy appearance ( 1Sa 16:12) of the peasant woman. Her brothers, her natural guardians, have been severe with her, for what reason we cannot tell; they have set her to this work of keeping the family vineyard, but her own vineyard they could not compel her to keep, her heart has been given to another. Love conquers disadvantages and spurns unreasonable restraints. Kedar, name of a nomad tribe ( Isa 21:16 f.*, Psa 12:05 *), used here because of its resemblance to a word meaning black. It is possible to take the curtains of Solomon to refer to the other member of the statement, the beauty not the blackness; there is then no need to change Solomon to Salma (another nomad tribe). daughters of Jerusalem, if original, may refer to the bridal companions who represent court ladies.

Son 1:7 f. An Inquiry and Reply. There is difficulty in fixing the connexion of this small piece, the first specimen of dialogue that we meet. It has the motive of seeking and finding ( Son 2:8 ff., Son 3:1). The woman addressing her lover, or the bride speaking to the bridegroom, wishes to know where he and his flock spend the hour of rest at noon-tide ( 2Sa 4:5), so that she may visit it and enjoy his company ( Gen 37:16). She is advised by her lover, or the chorus of girls, to go forth with her kids, following the track of the flocks, till she comes to the shepherds-' tents (cf. Gen 38:17; Jdg 15:1). The one difficult phrase in the passage is as one that is veiled (AV that turneth aside). This suggests, why should she incur suspicion or run into danger as a woman of loose character? ( Gen 38:15). But on the whole, it is better to translate, with the versions (mg.), as a wandering woman i.e. a female tramp.

A Mutually Responsive Song of Love and Admiration. (1) The comparison of the richly-ornamented horses of Pharaoh's chariots. Parallels from ancient literature may be found in the commentaries. The Arabs had fine breeds of horses which they esteemed very highly, and such horses were splendidly adorned when driven in the chariots of the princes. The rich and even excessive adornment of the bride appealed to the Orientals as much as the simple beauty of the maiden. Hence the reference to plaits of hair, circlets of gold with silver points is appropriate both to a woman's headdress and the trappings of a gaily-decorated steed ( Gen 24:53; Gen 34:12). (2) The bride returns the compliment. Her perfumes and her own charms exert their full power when stimulated by the gracious presence of her king. He is compared to a bundle or bag of myrrh which Oriental women place between their breasts at night, and which has a protecting and refreshing influence, as well as to the Paradise flower (henna-flower), the dye from which is used to give a delicate tinge to the hands and feet. These flowers are said to be found only in Palestine at En-gedi. (3) The bridegroom declares again the beauty of his love (lit. friend, in the OT peculiar to this book and Jdg 11:37). He says that her eyes are doves, meaning that they have the softness and innocence of doves-' eyes. There is no general agreement about the exact reference of Son 1:16 f. whether it is a picture of a fine mansion, or a poetic description of life among the trees of the forest; the green bed is the difficulty, which some take literally, and others figuratively, or according to the custom mentioned in Pro 7:17.