^1. Solomon's Song of Songs.

^2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth-- for your love is more delightful than wine.

^3. Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you!

^4. Take me away with you--let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. We rejoice and delight in you [1] ; we will praise your love more than wine. How right they are to adore you!

^5. Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. [2]

^6. Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother's sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have neglected.

^7. Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends?

^8. If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds.

^9. I liken you, my darling, to a mare harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh.

^10. Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.

^11. We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver.

^12. While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.

^13. My lover is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts.

^14. My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.

^15. How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves.

^16. How handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how charming! And our bed is verdant.

^17. The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are firs.