The Bride Longs for Affection

1 The song of songs [1] of Solomon

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

3 Your ointments have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is poured out like perfume. No wonder maidens love you!

4 Draw me after you, let us run! The king has brought me into his chambers. Chorus: Daughters of Zion Let us rejoice and be glad in you; let us extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you!

5 I am black, but 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 looked on me. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me keeper of the vineyards; my very own vineyard I have not kept.

7 Tell me, the one my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you make it lie down at noon? Why should I be as one veiled beside the flocks of your companions?

8 If you yourself do not know, O most beautiful among women, go out yourself in the footsteps of the flock and graze your kids by the shepherds’ tents.

Expression of Mutual Love

9 I compare you, my darling, to my mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of beads.

11 Ornaments of gold we will make for you with spangles of silver.

12 While the king is on his couch, my nard spreads its fragrance. [2]

13 My lover is my pouch of myrrh, passing the night between my breasts.

14 My love is to me a spray of henna blooms in the vineyards of En-gedi.

15 How lovely you are, my darling, how lovely! Your eyes are doves.

16 How handsome you are, my lover! Oh, so delightful! Yes, our couch is luxuriant.

17 The beams of our houses are cedar trees, our panels are cypress trees.