1This is Solomon's song of songs, more wonderful than any other.
2Kiss me again and again, for your love is sweeter than wine.
3How fragrant your cologne, and how pleasing your name! No wonder all the young women love you!
4Take me with you. Come, lets run! Bring me into your bedroom, O my king. How happy we are for him! We praise his love even more than wine. How right that the young women love you!
5"I am dark and beautiful, O women of Jerusalem, tanned as the dark tents of Kedar. Yes, even as the tents of Solomon!
6"Don't look down on me, you fair city girls, just because my complexion is so dark. The sun has burned my skin. My brothers were angry with me and sent me out to tend the vineyards in the hot sun. Now see what it has done to me!
7"Tell me, O my love, where are you leading your flock today? Where will you rest your sheep at noon? For why should I wander like a prostitute among the flocks of your companions?"
8If you dont know, O most beautiful woman, follow the trail of my flock to the shepherds tents, and there feed your young goats.
9What a lovely filly you are, my beloved one!
10How lovely are your cheeks, with your earrings setting them afire! How stately is your neck, accented with a long string of jewels.
11We will make earrings of gold for you and beads of silver.
12The king is lying on his couch, enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume.
13My lover is like a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts.
14He is like a bouquet of flowers in the gardens of En-gedi.
15How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful! Your eyes are soft like doves.
16What a lovely, pleasant sight you are, my love, as we lie here on the grass,
17shaded by cedar trees and spreading firs.