The Bride Longs for Affection

1 The Ultimate Song, by Shlomo:

2 Let him smother me with kisses from his mouth, for your love is better than wine.

3 Your anointing oils have a wonderful fragrance; your name is like anointing oil poured out. This is why young women love you —

4 “Take me with you. We will run after you.” The king has brought me into his rooms. [Chorus] We will be glad and rejoice for you. We will praise your love more than wine. How right it is for them to love you!

5 I am dark tan but beautiful, you daughters of Yerushalayim, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Shlomo.

6 Don’t stare at me because I’m dark; it’s the sun that tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me look after the vineyards. But I haven’t cared for my own vineyard.

7 Tell me, my love, where you pasture your flock, where you have them rest at noon; for why should I veil myself [like a whore] beside the flocks of your friends?

8 If you do not know, you most beautiful of women, then follow the footprints of the flock and let your kids graze by the shepherds’ tents.

Expression of Mutual Love

9 My love, I compare you with my mare, pulling one of Pharaoh’s chariots —

10 your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with its strings of beads;

11 we will make you ornaments of gold, studded with silver.

12 As the king reclines at table, my nard gives forth its perfume:

13 to me the man I love is a sachet of myrrh lodged between my breasts;

14 to me the man I love is a spray of henna flowers in the vineyards of ‘Ein-Gedi.

15 Look at you, my love! How beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves —

16 — Look at you! So handsome, so pleasing, my darling! Our bed is the greenery;

17 cedars are the beams of our houses, cypresses the rafters.