1:1 Solomon’s 1 Most Excellent 2 Love Song. 3
The Beloved to Her Lover: 4
1:2 Oh, how I wish you 5 would kiss me passionately! 6
For your lovemaking 7 is more delightful 8 than wine. 9
1:3 The fragrance 10 of your colognes 11 is delightful; 12
your name 13 is like the finest 14 perfume. 15
No wonder the young women 16 adore 17 you!
1:4 Draw me 18 after you; let us hurry! 19
May the king 20 bring 21 me into his 22 bedroom chambers! 23
The Maidens 24 to the Lover:
We will 25 rejoice and delight in you; 26
we will praise 27 your love more than wine.
The Beloved to Her Lover:
How rightly 28 the young women 29 adore you!
The Beloved to the Maidens:
1:5 I am dark but lovely, O maidens 30 of Jerusalem,
dark 31 like the tents of Qedar, 32
lovely 33 like the tent curtains 34 of Salmah. 35
1:6 Do not stare at me because 36 I am dark,
for 37 the sun has burned my skin. 38
My brothers 39 were angry 40 with me;
they made me the keeper of the vineyards.
Alas, my own vineyard 41 I could not keep! 42
The Beloved to Her Lover:
1:7 Tell me, O you whom my heart 43 loves,
where do you pasture your sheep?
Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat?
Tell me lest 44 I wander around 45
beside the flocks of your companions!
The Lover to His Beloved:
1:8 If you do not know, O most beautiful of women,
simply follow the tracks of my flock,
and pasture your little lambs
beside the tents of the shepherds.
The Lover to His Beloved:
1:9 O my beloved, you are like 46 a 47 mare 48
among Pharaoh’s stallions. 49
1:10 Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments;
your neck is lovely 50 with strings of jewels.
1:11 We 51 will make for you gold ornaments
studded with silver. 52
The Beloved about Her Lover:
1:12 While the king was at his banqueting table, 53
my nard 54 gave forth its fragrance. 55
1:13 My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh 56
spending the night 57 between my breasts.
1:14 My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms 58
in the vineyards of En-Gedi. 59
The Lover to His Beloved:
1:15 Oh, 60 how beautiful you are, my beloved! 61
Oh, how beautiful you are!
Your eyes 62 are like doves! 63
The Beloved to Her Lover:
1:16 Oh, how handsome you are, my lover! 64
Oh, 65 how delightful 66 you are!
The lush foliage 67 is our canopied bed; 68
1:17 the cedars are the beams of our bedroom chamber;
the pines are the rafters of our bedroom.
The Beloved to Her Lover:
2:1 I am a 69 meadow flower 70 from Sharon, 71
a lily 72 from the valleys.
The Lover to His Beloved:
2:2 Like 73 a lily among the thorns, 74
so is my darling among the maidens.
The Beloved about Her Lover:
2:3 Like 75 an apple tree 76 among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
I delight 77 to sit 78 in his shade, 79
and his fruit 80 is sweet 81 to my taste. 82
The Beloved about Her Lover:
2:4 He brought me 83 into the banquet hall, 84
and he looked 85 at me lovingly. 86
2:5 Sustain 87 me with raisin cakes, 88
refresh me with apples, 89
for I am faint with love. 90
The Double Refrain: Embracing and Adjuration
2:6 His left hand caresses my head, 91
and his right hand stimulates me. 92
The Beloved to the Maidens:
2:7 I adjure you, 93 O maidens of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles and by the young does 94 of the open fields: 95
Do not awaken or arouse 96 love 97 until it pleases! 98
The Beloved about Her Lover:
2:8 Listen! 99 My lover is approaching! 100
Look! 101 Here he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills!
2:9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. 102
Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the window,
peering through the lattice.
The Lover to His Beloved:
2:10 My lover spoke to me, saying:
“Arise, my darling;
My beautiful one, come away with me!
2:11 Look! The winter has passed,
the winter rains are over and gone.
2:12 The pomegranates have appeared 103 in the land,
the time for pruning and singing 104 has come;
the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
2:13 The fig tree has budded,
the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance.
Arise, come away my darling;
my beautiful one, come away with me!”
The Lover to His Beloved:
2:14 O my dove, 105 in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding places of the mountain crags,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
The Beloved to Her Lover:
2:15 Catch 106 the foxes 107 for us,
the little foxes, 108
that ruin the vineyards 109 –
for our vineyard is in bloom.
The Beloved about Her Lover:
2:16 My lover is mine and I am his;
he grazes among the lilies. 110
The Beloved to Her Lover:
2:17 Until the dawn arrives 111 and the shadows flee,
turn, 112 my beloved –
be like a gazelle or a young stag
on the mountain gorges. 113
The Beloved about Her Lover:
3:1 All night long 114 on my bed 115
I longed for 116 my lover. 117
I longed for 118 him but he never appeared. 119
3:2 “I will arise 120 and look all around 121 throughout the town,
and throughout the streets 122 and squares;
I will search for my beloved.”
I searched for him but I did not find him. 123
3:3 The night watchmen found me – the ones who guard the city walls. 124
“Have you seen my beloved?” 125
3:4 Scarcely 126 had I passed them by
when I found my beloved!
I held onto him 127 tightly and would not let him go 128
until I brought him to my mother’s house, 129
to the bedroom chamber 130 of the one who conceived me.
The Beloved to the Maidens:
3:5 131 I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields:
“Do not awake or arouse love until it pleases!”
The Speaker: 132
3:6 Who is this coming up from the desert
like a column of smoke,
like 133 a fragrant billow 134 of myrrh and frankincense, 135
every kind of fragrant powder 136 of the traveling merchants? 137
3:7 Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch! 138
It is surrounded by sixty warriors,
some of Israel’s mightiest warriors.
3:8 All of them are skilled with a sword, 139
well-trained in the art of warfare. 140
Each has his sword at his side,
to guard against the terrors of the night.
3:9 King Solomon made a sedan chair 141 for himself
of wood imported from Lebanon. 142
3:10 Its posts were made 143 of silver; 144
its back 145 was made of gold.
Its seat was upholstered with purple wool; 146
its interior was inlaid 147 with leather 148 by the maidens 149 of Jerusalem.
3:11 Come out, O maidens of Zion,
and gaze upon King Solomon!
He is wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him
on his wedding day,
on the most joyous day of his life! 150
The Lover to His Beloved:
4:1 Oh, 152 you are beautiful, my darling! 153
Oh, you are beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. 154
Your hair is like a flock of female goats
descending 155 from Mount Gilead.
4:2 Your teeth are like a flock of newly-shorn sheep
coming up from the washing place; 156
each of them has a twin,
and not one of them is missing.
4:3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread; 157
your mouth is lovely.
Your forehead 158 behind your veil
is like a slice of pomegranate.
4:4 Your neck is like the tower 159 of David
built with courses of stones; 160
one thousand shields are hung on it –
all shields of valiant warriors. 161
4:5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of the gazelle
grazing among the lilies.
4:6 Until the dawn arrives 162
and the shadows flee,
I will go up to the mountain of myrrh,
and to the hill of frankincense.
4:7 You are altogether beautiful, my darling!
There is no blemish in you!
4:8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
come with me from Lebanon.
Descend from the crest of Amana,
from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon,
from the lions’ dens
and the mountain haunts of the leopards.
4:9 You have stolen my heart, 163 my sister, 164 my bride!
You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, 165
with one jewel of your necklace.
4:10 How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine;
the fragrance of your perfume is better than any spice!
4:11 Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride,
honey and milk are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
The Lover to His Beloved:
4:12 You are a locked garden, 166 my sister, my bride;
you are an enclosed spring, a sealed-up fountain.
4:13 Your shoots are a royal garden 167 full of pomegranates
with choice fruits:
henna with nard,
4:14 nard and saffron;
calamus and cinnamon with every kind of spice,
myrrh and aloes with all the finest spices. 168
4:15 You are a garden spring, 169
a well 170 of fresh water 171 flowing down from Lebanon.
The Beloved to Her Lover:
4:16 Awake, O north wind; come, O south wind!
Blow on my garden so that its fragrant spices may send out their sweet smell. 172
May my beloved come into his garden
and eat its delightful fruit!