The First Song (SNG 1:1-2:7)

The Woman

[1:2] Your lips cover me with kisses; your love is better than wine.

[1:3] There is a fragrance about you; the sound of your name recalls it. No woman could keep from loving you.

[1:4] 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!

[1:5] Women of Jerusalem, I am dark but beautiful, dark as the desert tents of Kedar, but beautiful as the draperies in Solomon's palace.

[1:6] Don't look down on me because of my color, because the sun has tanned me. My brothers were angry with me and made me work in the vineyard. I had no time to care for myself.

[1:7] 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

[1:8] Don't you know the place, loveliest of women? Go and follow the flock; find pasture for your goats near the tents of the shepherds.

[1:9] You, my love, excite men as a mare excites the stallions of Pharaoh's chariots.

[1:10] Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks and falls along your neck like jewels.

[1:11] But we will make for you a chain of gold with ornaments of silver.

The Woman

[1:12] My king was lying on his couch, and my perfume filled the air with fragrance.

[1:13] My lover has the scent of myrrh as he lies upon my breasts.

[1:14] My lover is like the wild flowers that bloom in the vineyards at Engedi.

The Man

[1:15] How beautiful you are, my love; how your eyes shine with love!

The Woman

[1:16] How handsome you are, my dearest; how you delight me! The green grass will be our bed;

[1:17] the cedars will be the beams of our house, and the cypress trees the ceiling.

[2:1] I am only a wild flower in Sharon, a lily in a mountain valley.

The Man

[2:2] Like a lily among thorns is my darling among women.

The Woman

[2:3] 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.

[2:4] He brought me to his banquet hall and raised the banner of love over me.

[2:5] Restore my strength with raisins and refresh me with apples! I am weak from passion.

[2:6] His left hand is under my head, and his right hand caresses me.

[2:7] Promise me, women of Jerusalem; swear by the swift deer and the gazelles that you will not interrupt our love.