The Bride Confesses Her Love

¹ This is Solomon’s Song of Songs.

The Bride

² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your love is more delightful than wine.

³ The fragrance of your perfume is pleasing;

your name is like perfume poured out.

No wonder the maidens adore you.

⁴ Take me away with you— let us hurry!

May the king bring me to his chambers.

The Friends

We will rejoice and delight in you;

we will praise your love more than wine.

The Bride

It is only right^* that they adore you.

⁵ I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem,

like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶ Do not stare because I am dark,

for the sun has gazed upon me.

My mother’s sons were angry^* with me;

they made me a keeper of the vineyards,^*

but my own vineyard^* I have neglected.

⁷ Tell me, O one I love,

where do you pasture your sheep?

Where do you rest them at midday?

Why should I be like a veiled woman^*

beside the flocks of your companions?

The Friends

⁸ If you do not know, O fairest of women,

follow the tracks of the flock,

and graze your young goats

near the tents of the shepherds.

The Bridegroom

⁹ I compare you, my darling,

to a mare among Pharaoh’s^* chariots.

¹⁰ Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,

your neck with strings of jewels.

The Friends

¹¹ We will make you ornaments of gold,

studded with beads of silver.

The Bride

¹² While the king was at his table,

my perfume spread its fragrance.

¹³ My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh

resting between my breasts.

¹⁴ My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms

in the vineyards of En-gedi.

The Bridegroom

¹⁵ How beautiful you are, my darling!

Oh, how very beautiful!

Your eyes are like doves.^*

The Bride

¹⁶ How handsome you are, my beloved!

Oh, how delightful!

The soft grass is our bed.

The Bridegroom

¹⁷ The beams of our house are cedars;

our rafters are fragrant firs.