                                SONG OF SOLOMON



Chapter 1

1   The song of songs, which is Solomon's.
2   Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better
    than wine.
3   Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment
    poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
4   Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his
    chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love
    more than wine: the upright love thee.
5   I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of
    Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6   Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon
    me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of
    the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
7   Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou
    makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that
    turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
8   If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the
    footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
9   I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's
    chariots.
10  Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of
    gold.
11  We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.
12  While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the
    smell thereof.
13  A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night
    betwixt my breasts.
14  My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of
    Engedi.
15  Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast
    doves' eyes.
16  Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is
    green.
17  The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

Chapter 2

1   I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
2   As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
3   As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among
    the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit
    was sweet to my taste.
4   He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was
    love.
5   Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
6   His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
7   I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the
    hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he
    please.
8   The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains,
    skipping upon the hills.
9   My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind
    our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the
    lattice.
10  My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one,
    and come away.
11  For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12  The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is
    come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
13  The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the
    tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come
    away.
14  O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places
    of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for
    sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
15  Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our
    vines have tender grapes.
16  My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
17  Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and
    be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Chapter 3

1   By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but
    I found him not.
2   I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the
    broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I
    found him not.
3   The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye
    him whom my soul loveth?
4   It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my
    soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought
    him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived
    me.
5   I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the
    hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he
    please.
6   Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,
    perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
7   Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about
    it, of the valiant of Israel.
8   They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword
    upon his thigh because of fear in the night.
9   King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.
10  He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold,
    the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love,
    for the daughters of Jerusalem.
11  Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the
    crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and
    in the day of the gladness of his heart.

Chapter 4

1   Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast
    doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that
    appear from mount Gilead.
2   Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up
    from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among
    them.
3   Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy
    temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.
4   Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon
    there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.
5   Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed
    among the lilies.
6   Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the
    mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
7   Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.
8   Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon:  look from
    the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions'
    dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
9   Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished
    my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
10  How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy
    love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
11  Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are
    under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of
    Lebanon.
12  A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a
    fountain sealed.
13  Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits;
    camphire, with spikenard,
14  Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of
    frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
15  A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from
    Lebanon.
16  Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that
    the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden,
    and eat his pleasant fruits.

Chapter 5

1   I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my
    myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have
    drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink
    abundantly, O beloved.
2   I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that
    knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled:
    for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the
    night.
3   I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet;
    how shall I defile them?
4   My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were
    moved for him.
5   I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and
    my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
6   I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was
    gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find
    him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7   The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they
    wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
8   I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye
    tell him, that I am sick of love.
9   What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among
    women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so
    charge us?
10  My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.
11  His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as
    a raven.
12  His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed
    with milk, and fitly set.
13  His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like
    lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
14  His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as
    bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
15  His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his
    countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16  His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my
    beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Chapter 6

1   Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women?  whither is
    thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
2   My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to
    feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
3   I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the
    lilies.
4   Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem,
    terrible as an army with banners.
5   Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is
    as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
6   Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing,
    whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among
    them.
7   As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.
8   There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins
    without number.
9   My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother,
    she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and
    blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
10  Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear
    as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?
11  I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley,
    and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.
12  Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.
13  Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon
    thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two
    armies.

Chapter 7

1   How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints
    of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning
    workman.
2   Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly
    is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.
3   Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
4   Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in
    Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon
    which looketh toward Damascus.
5   Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like
    purple; the king is held in the galleries.
6   How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!
7   This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters
    of grapes.
8   I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs
    thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the
    smell of thy nose like apples;
9   And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that
    goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
10  I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.
11  Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the
    villages.
12  Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine
    flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud
    forth: there will I give thee my loves.
13  The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of
    pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my
    beloved.

Chapter 8

1   O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother!
    when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be
    despised.
2   I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would
    instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of
    my pomegranate.
3   His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should
    embrace me.
4   I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake
    my love, until he please.
5   Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her
    beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought
    thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.
6   Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm:  for love
    is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof
    are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
7   Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a
    man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly
    be contemned.
8   We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for
    our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
9   If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver:  and if
    she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
10  I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as
    one that found favour.
11  Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto
    keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces
    of silver.
12  My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have
    a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
13  Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy
    voice: cause me to hear it.
14  Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart
    upon the mountains of spices.
