The Song of Solomon
1 The song of songs,* which is Solʹo·mon’s:+
2 “May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,
For your expressions of affection are better than wine.+
3 The fragrance of your oils is pleasant.+
Your name is like a fragrant oil poured out.+
That is why the young women love you.
4 Take me with you;* let us run.
The king has brought me into his interior rooms!
Let us be joyful and rejoice in you.
Let us praise* your expressions of affection more than wine.
Rightly they* love you.
5 I am dark,* but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Like the tents of Keʹdar,+ like the tent cloths+ of Solʹo·mon.
6 Do not stare at me because I am swarthy,
Because the sun has gazed upon me.
The sons of my mother were angry with me;
They appointed me the keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I did not keep.
7 Tell me, you whom I love* so much,
Where you pasture your flock,+
Where you have them lie down at midday.
Why should I be like a woman wrapped in a veil*
Among the flocks of your companions?”
8 “If you do not know, O most beautiful of women,
Go follow the tracks of the flock
And pasture your young goats next to the tents of the shepherds.”
9 “I liken you, my beloved, to a* mare among the chariots of Pharʹaoh.+
15 “Look! You are beautiful, my beloved.
Look! You are beautiful. Your eyes are those of doves.”+
16 “Look! You are beautiful,* my dear one, and delightful.+
Our bed is among the foliage.