¹ The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth:
For thy love is better than wine.
³ Because of the savour of thy good ointments
Thy name is as ointment poured forth,
Therefore do the virgins love thee.
⁴ Draw me, we will run after thee:
The king hath brought me into his chambers:
We will be glad and rejoice in thee,
We will remember thy love more than wine:
The upright love thee.
⁵ I am black, but comely,
O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
As the tents of Kedar,
As the curtains of Solomon.
⁶ Look not upon me, because I am black,
Because the sun hath looked upon me:
My mother’s children were angry with me;
They made me the keeper of the vineyards;
But mine own vineyard have I not kept.
⁷ Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,
Where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon:
For why should I be as one that turneth aside
By the flocks of thy companions?
⁸ If thou know not,
O thou fairest among women,
Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,
And feed thy kids
Beside the shepherds’ tents.
⁹ I have compared thee, O my love,
To a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.
¹⁰ Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels,
Thy neck with chains of gold.
¹¹ We will make thee borders of gold
With studs of silver.
¹² While the King sitteth at his table,
My spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
¹³ A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me;
He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
¹⁴ My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire
In the vineyards of Engedi.
¹⁵ Behold, thou art fair, my love;
Behold, thou art fair;
Thou hast doves’ eyes.
¹⁶ Behold, thou art fair, my beloved,
Yea, pleasant:
Also our bed is green.
¹⁷ The beams of our house are cedar,
And our rafters of fir.