| Song of Songs |
| 1 The most beautiful of songs, by Solomon.* |
| The Woman 2 Your lips cover me with kisses; Your love is better then wine 3 There is a fragrance about you; the sound of your name recalls it. No woman could help loving you. 4 Take me with you, and we'll run away; be my king and take me to your room. We will be happy together, drink deep, and lose ourselves in love. No wonder all women love you! 5 Women of Jerusalem, I am dark but beautiful, dark as the desert tents of kedar, but beautiful as the curtains in Solomon's palace. 6 Don't look down on me because of my colour, because the sun has tanned me. My brothers were angry with me and made me work in the vineyard. had no time to care for myself. 7 Tell me, my love, Where will you lead your flock to graze? Where will they rest from the noonday sun? Why should I need to look for you among the flocks of the other shepherds? The Man 8 Don't you know the place, loveliest of women? Go and follow the flock; find pasture for your goats near the tents of your shepherds. 9 You, my love, excite men as a mare excites the stallions of Pharaoh's chariots. 10 Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks and falls along your necklike jewels. 11 But we will make for you a chain of gold with ornaments of silver. |
| The First Song |
| .The Woman 12 My king was lying on his couch, and my perfume filled the air with fragrance. 13 My lover has the scent of myrrh as he lies upon my breasts. 14 My lover is like the wild flowers that bloom in the vineyards at Engedi! The Man 15 How beautiful you are, my love; how your eyes shine with love! The Woman 16 How handsome you are my dearest; how you delight me! The green grass will be our bed; the cedars will be the beams of our house, and the cypress-trees the ceiling. 2 I am only a wild flower in Sharon, a lily in a mountain valley. The Man 2 Like a lily among thorns is my darling among women. The Woman 3 Like an apple-tree among the trees of the forest, So is my dearest compared to other men. I love to sit in its shadow, and its fruit is sweet to my taste. 4 He brought me to his banqueting hall and raised the banner of love over me. 5 Restore my strengths with raisins and refresh me with apples! 6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand caresses me. 7 Promise me, women of Jerusalem; swear by the swift deer and the gazelles that you will not interrupt our love. |
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| *by Solomon; or dedicated toSolomon, or about Solomon. |
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