The  ¹Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.

Let him kiss me with the  ¹kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine.

Your anointing oils have a pleasant fragrance;
Your name is like ointment poured forth;
Therefore the  ¹virgins love you.

 ¹Draw me; we will run after you —

The king has brought me into his  ²chambers —
We will be glad and  ³rejoice in you;
We will  ³extol your love more than wine.
Rightly do they love you.

I am  ¹black but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

Do not look at me, because I am black,
Because the sun has  ¹scorched me.
My mother's sons were angry with me;
They made me keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I have not kept.

Tell me, you whom my soul loves,  ¹Where do you pasture your flock?
Where do you make it lie down at  ²noon?
For why should I be like one who is veiled
Beside the flocks of your companions?

If you yourself do not know,
You fairest among women,
 ¹Go forth on the footsteps of the flock,
And pasture your young goats
By the shepherds' tents.

I compare you,  ¹my love,
To a  ²mare among Pharaoh's chariots.

Your  ¹cheeks are lovely with plaits of ornaments,
Your neck with  ²strings of jewels.

 ¹We will make you  ²plaits of gold
With  ²studs of silver.

While the king was at his  ¹table,
My spikenard gave forth its fragrance.

My beloved is to me a  ¹bundle of myrrh
That lies at night between my breasts.

My beloved is to me a cluster of henna flowers
In the vineyards of  ¹En-gedi.

Oh, you are beautiful, my love!
Oh, you are beautiful! Your  ¹eyes are like doves.

Oh, you are beautiful, my beloved; indeed, pleasant!

Indeed, our  ¹couch is green.

The beams of our house are cedars;
Our rafters are cypresses.

I am a  ¹rose of  ²Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.

As a  ¹lily among thorns,
So is my love among the daughters.

As the  ¹apple tree among the trees of the wood,
So is my beloved among the sons:

In his shade I delighted and sat down, / And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

He brought me into the  ¹banqueting house,
And his banner over me was love.

Sustain me with raisin cakes,
Refresh me with apples,
For I am sick with love.

His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.

I  ¹adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the hinds of the fields,
Not to rouse up or awaken my love
Until she pleases.

The voice of my beloved! Now he comes,
 ¹Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.

My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart.
Now he stands behind our  ¹wall;
He is looking through the  ²windows,
He is glancing through the  ²lattice.

My beloved  ¹responds and says to me,
 ²Rise up, my love,
My beauty, and come away;

For now the  ¹winter is past;
The rain is over and gone.

 ¹Flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The fig tree has ripened its figs,
And the vines are in blossom — they give forth their fragrance.
 ¹Rise up, my love,
My beauty, and come away.

 ¹My dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the covert of the precipice,
Let me see your countenance,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your countenance is lovely.

Catch the  ¹foxes for us,
The little foxes,
That ruin the vineyards
While our vineyards are in blossom.

My beloved is  ¹mine, and I am his;
He pastures his flock among the lilies.

 ¹Until the day dawns and the shadows flee away,
Turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart
On the mountains of  ²Bether.

On my bed night after night
I  ¹sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not.

I will  ¹rise now and go about in the city;
In the streets and in the squares
I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but found him not.

The  ¹watchmen who go about in the city found me —
Have you seen him whom my soul loves?

Scarcely had I passed them
When I found him whom my soul loves;
I held him and would not let go
Until I had brought him into my  ¹mother's house
And into the  ¹chamber of her who conceived me.

I  ¹adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the hinds of the fields,
Not to rouse up or awaken my love
Until she pleases.

 ¹Who is  ²she who comes up from the wilderness
Like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

There is Solomon's  ¹bed;
Sixty mighty men surround it,
Of the mighty men of Israel.

All of them wield the sword and are expert in war;
Each man has his sword at his thigh
Because of the night alarms.

King Solomon made himself a  ¹palanquin
Of the wood of Lebanon.

Its posts he made of silver,
Its bottom, of gold;
Its seat, of purple;
Its midst was inlaid with love
From the daughters of Jerusalem.

Go forth, O daughters of Zion,
And  ¹look at King Solomon with the  ²crown
With which his mother crowned him
On the day of his  ³espousals,
Yes, on the day of the gladness of his heart.

Oh, you are beautiful, my love!
Oh, you are beautiful! Your  ¹eyes are like doves behind your veil;
Your  ¹hair is like a flock of goats
That repose on Mount Gilead.

Your  ¹teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
That have come up from the washing,
All of which have borne twins,
And none of them is bereaved of her young.

Your  ¹lips are like a scarlet thread,
And your mouth is lovely;
Your cheeks are like a piece of pomegranate
Behind your veil.

Your  ¹neck is like the tower of David,
Built for an armory:
A thousand bucklers hang on it,
All the shields of the mighty men.

Your two  ¹breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle,
That feed among the lilies.

Until the day  ¹dawns and the shadows flee away,
I, for my part, will go to the mountain of myrrh
And to the hill of frankincense.

You are altogether  ¹beautiful, my love,
And there is no blemish in you.

Come with me from  ¹Lebanon, my bride;
With me from  ²Lebanon come.
Look from the top of  ³Amana,
From the top of  ⁴Senir and  ⁵Hermon,
From the  ⁶lions' dens,
From the  ⁶leopards' mountains.

You have  ¹ravished my heart, my  ²sister, my bride;
You have  ¹ravished my heart with one glance of your eyes,
With one strand of your necklace.

How beautiful is your  ¹love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine,
And the fragrance of your ointments
Than all spices!

Your  ¹lips drip fresh honey, my bride;
Honey and milk are under your tongue;
And the fragrance of your garments
Is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

A  ¹garden enclosed is my  ²sister, my bride,
A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Your shoots are an  ¹orchard of pomegranates
With choicest fruit;
Henna with spikenard,

Spikenard and saffron;
Calamus and cinnamon,
With all the trees of frankincense;
Myrrh and aloes,
With all the chief spices.

A  ¹fountain in gardens,
A  ¹well of living water,
And  ¹streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O  ¹north wind;
And come, O  ¹south wind!
Blow upon my garden:
Let its spices flow forth;
Let my beloved come into his garden
And eat his choicest fruit.