1The song of songs, which is Solomon's.

2Let him kiss me and kiss me again. For your love is better than wine. How pleasing is your fragrance; your name is like the spreading fragrance of scented oils. No wonder all the young women love you! 4Take me away with you. Let us hurry! The king has brought me into his bedroom. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.

5I am black, but beautiful, O you daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. 6Do not stare at me because I am black, because I am darkened by sun upon me. My mother brothers were unkind to me; they made me keep their vineyards, so that I had to neglect my own vineyard.

7Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock, and where you rest your sheep at midday; for why should I be as one that veils herself beside the flocks of your friends?

8If you do not know, O you most beautiful of women, follow the tracks footsteps of my flock, and feed your kids beside the shepherds' tents.

9You are as exciting as a mare among Pharaoh's chariot horses. 10Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with chains of gold. 11We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver.

12While the king was lying on his couch, my perfume spread forth its fragrance. 13My well-beloved is to me like a sachet of myrrh; he shall lie all night between my breasts. 14My beloved is to me like a cluster of henna flowers in the vineyards of En-gedi.

15How beautiful you are, my love; your eyes are like doves' eyes.

16How handsome you are, my beloved, yea, beyond words; also, the soft grass is our bed. 17The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.