1This is the greatest song Solomon ever wrote. A Shulammite woman says to King Solomon,2‘I long for your lips to kiss me! Your love makes me happier than wine does.3The lotion you have on pleases me. Your name is like perfume that is poured out. No wonder the young women love you!4Take me away with you. Let us hurry! King Solomon, bring me into your palace.’ The other women say, ‘King Solomon, you fill us with joy. You make us happy. We praise your love more than we praise wine.’ The woman says to the king, ‘It is right for them to love you!5‘Women of Jerusalem, my skin is dark but lovely. It is dark like the tents in Kedar. It’s like the curtains of Solomon’s tent.6Don’t stare at me because I’m dark. The sun has made my skin look like this. My brothers were angry with me. They made me take care of the vineyards. I haven’t even taken care of my own vineyard.7‘King Solomon, I love you. So tell me where you take care of your flock. Tell me where you rest your sheep at noon. Why should I have to act like a prostitute near the flocks of your friends?’ The other women say,8‘You are the most beautiful woman of all. Don’t you know where to find the king? Follow the tracks the sheep make. Take care of your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.’ King Solomon says to the Shulammite woman,9‘You are my love. You are like a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.10Your earrings make your cheeks even more beautiful. Your strings of jewels make your neck even more lovely.11We will make gold earrings for you. We’ll decorate them with silver.’ The woman says,12‘The king was at his table. My perfume gave off a sweet smell.13The one who loves me is like a small bag of myrrh resting between my breasts.14He is like henna flowers from the vineyards of En Gedi.’ The king says,15‘You are so beautiful, my love! So beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.’ The woman says,16‘You are so handsome, my love! So charming! The green field is our bed.’ The king says,17‘Cedar trees above us are the beams of our house. Fir trees overhead are its rafters.’
Song of Solomon 1
English Standard Version
1The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. (1Ki 4:32)
The Bride Confesses Her Love
2She[1]: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; (So 4:10)3your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. (Ec 7:1; Lu 7:46; Joh 12:3)4Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. Others: We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you. (Ps 9:2; Ps 45:14; Ps 45:15; Ps 119:32; So 1:2; So 2:4; Ho 11:4; Joh 6:44; Joh 12:32; Joh 14:2; Eph 2:6; Php 3:12)5She: I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. (Ps 120:5; So 2:7; So 2:14; So 3:5; So 3:10; So 4:3; So 5:8; So 5:16; So 6:4; So 8:4; Isa 60:7; Lu 23:28)6Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! (Job 27:18; Ps 69:8; Pr 27:18; So 8:11; 1Co 9:27)7Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions? (Ps 23:1; So 2:16; So 3:1; So 6:3; So 8:13; Isa 13:20; Jer 33:12; Eze 34:14)
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
8He: If you do not know, O most beautiful among women, follow in the tracks of the flock, and pasture your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents. (So 5:9; So 6:1)9I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots. (2Ch 1:16; So 1:15)10Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels. (So 5:13; Eze 16:11)11Others: We will make for you[2] ornaments of gold, studded with silver.12She: While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance. (So 1:4; So 4:13; Mr 14:3; Joh 12:3)13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh that lies between my breasts. (Ps 45:8; Joh 19:39)14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Engedi. (1Sa 23:29; So 4:13)15He: Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves. (So 1:9; So 2:2; So 2:10; So 2:13; So 4:1; So 4:7; So 5:2; So 5:12; So 6:4; Eze 16:13)16She: Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful. Our couch is green; (2Sa 1:23; 2Sa 1:26; So 2:3)17the beams of our house are cedar; our rafters are pine. (Isa 37:24; Isa 60:13; Eze 31:8)