Song of Songs 1

LEB(i) 1 The Song of Songs,* which is for* Solomon. 2 May* you kiss me* passionately with your lips,* for your love is better than wine.* 3 As fragrance, your perfumes* are delightful;* your name is poured out perfume;* therefore young women love you. 4 Draw me after you, let us run! May the king bring me into his chambers!* Let us be joyful and let us rejoice in you; let us extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you! 5 I am black but beautiful,* O maidens of Jerusalem,* like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. 6 Do not gaze at me because I am black, * because the sun has stared at me. The sons of my mother were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own "vineyard"* I did not keep. 7 Tell me, you whom my heart* loves, where do you pasture your flock, where do your sheep lie down at the noon? For why should I be like* one who is veiled* beside the flocks of your companions? 8 If you do not know, O fairest among women, follow the tracks* of the flock, and pasture your little lambs* beside the tents of the shepherds. 9 To a mare* among the chariots* of Pharaoh, I compare you, my beloved. 10 Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels. 11 We will make ornaments of gold for you with studs* of silver. 12 While the king was on his couch, my nard gave its fragrance. 13 My beloved is to me a pouch* of myrrh, he spends the night* between my breasts. 14 My beloved is to me a cluster of blossoms of henna in the vineyards of En Gedi. 15 Look! You are beautiful, my beloved. Look! You are beautiful; your eyes are doves. 16 Look! You are beautiful, my beloved, truly pleasant. Truly our couch is verdant;* 17 the beams of our house are cedar; our rafter is cypress.