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Love Is Better than Wine

(A) This is Solomon's
    most beautiful song.

She Speaks:

Kiss me tenderly!
Your love is better than wine,
    and you smell so sweet.
All the young women adore you;
the very mention of your name
    is like spreading perfume.
* Hurry, my king! Let's hurry.
    Take me to your home.

The Young Women Speak:

We are happy for you!
And we praise your love
    even more than wine.

She Speaks:

Young women of Jerusalem,
it is only right
    that you should adore him.
My skin is dark and beautiful,
like a tent in the desert
    or like Solomon's curtains.
Don't stare at me
just because the sun
    has darkened my skin.
My brothers were angry with me;
they made me work in the vineyard,
    and so I neglected
    my complexion.

My darling, I love you!
Where do you feed your sheep
    and let them rest at noon?
Don't let the other shepherds
    think badly of me.
I'm not one of those women
who shamelessly follow
    after shepherds.[a]

He Speaks:

My dearest, if you don't know,
just follow the path
    of the sheep.
Then feed your young goats
    near the shepherds' tents.
You move as gracefully
as the pony that leads
    the chariot of the king.
10 Earrings add to your beauty,
and you wear a necklace
    of precious stones.
11 Let's make you some jewelry
    of gold, woven with silver.

She Speaks:

12 My king, while you
were on your couch,
    my aroma was a magic charm.[b]
13 My darling, you are perfume
    between my breasts;
14 you are flower blossoms
    from the gardens of En-Gedi.[c]

He Speaks:

15 My darling, you are lovely,
so very lovely—
    your eyes are those of a dove.

She Speaks:

16 My love, you are handsome,
    truly handsome—
the fresh green grass
    will be our wedding bed
17 in the shade of cedar
    and cypress trees.

Love Makes Everything Beautiful

She Speaks:

I am merely a rose[d]
from the land of Sharon,
    a lily from the valley.

He Speaks:

My darling, when compared
with other young women,
    you are a lily among thorns.

She Speaks:

And you, my love,
are an apple tree
    among trees of the forest.
Your shade brought me pleasure;
    your fruit was sweet.
You led me to your banquet room
    and showered me with love.
Refresh and strengthen me
with raisins and apples.
    I am hungry for love!
Put your left hand under my head
and embrace me
    with your right arm.

Young women of Jerusalem,
promise me by the power
    of deer and gazelles[e]
never to awaken love
    before it is ready.

Winter Is Past

She Speaks:

I hear the voice
    of the one I love,
as he comes leaping
over mountains and hills
    like a deer or a gazelle.
Now he stands outside our wall,
looking through the window
10     and speaking to me.

He Speaks:

My darling, I love you!
    Let's go away together.
11 Winter is past,
    the rain has stopped;
12 flowers cover the earth,
    it's time to sing.[f]
The cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.
13 Fig trees are bearing fruit,
while blossoms on grapevines
    fill the air with perfume.
My darling, I love you!
    Let's go away together.
14 You are my dove
hiding among the rocks
    on the side of a cliff.
Let me see how lovely you are!
Let me hear the sound
    of your melodious voice.
15 Our vineyards are in blossom;
we must catch the little foxes
    that destroy the vineyards.[g]

She Speaks:

16 My darling, I am yours,
    and you are mine,
as you feed your sheep
    among the lilies.
17 Pretend to be a young deer
dancing on mountain slopes[h]
    until daylight comes
    and shadows fade away.

Beautiful Dreams

She Speaks:

While in bed at night,
I reached for the one I love
    with heart and soul.
I looked for him,
    but he wasn't there.
So I searched through the town
    for the one I love.
I looked on every street,
    but he wasn't there.
I even asked the guards
    patrolling the town,
“Have you seen the one
    I love so much?”
Right after that, I found him.
I held him and would not let go
    until I had taken him
    to the home of my mother.
Young women of Jerusalem,
promise me by the power
    of deer and gazelles,[i]
never to awaken love
    before it is ready.

The Groom and the Wedding Party

Their Friends Speak:

What do we see approaching
from the desert
    like a cloud of smoke?
With it comes the sweet smell
of spices, including myrrh
    and frankincense.
It is King Solomon
    carried on a throne,
surrounded by sixty
    of Israel's best soldiers.
Each of them wears a sword.
They are experts at fighting,
    even in the dark.
The throne is made of trees
    from Lebanon.
10 Its posts are silver,
    the back is gold,
and the seat is covered
    with purple cloth.
You women of Jerusalem
have taken great care
    to furnish the inside.[j]
11 Now come and see the crown
given to Solomon by his mother
    on his happy wedding day.

Footnotes

  1. 1.7 Don't let … after shepherds: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  2. 1.12 magic charm: The Hebrew text has “spikenard” (or “nard”), a sweet-smelling ointment made from a plant that comes from India. The ointment was sometimes used as a love charm.
  3. 1.14 En-Gedi: An oasis west of the Dead Sea.
  4. 2.1 rose: The traditional translation. The exact variety of the flower is not known, though it may have been a crocus.
  5. 2.7 deer and gazelles: Deer and gazelles were sacred animals in some religions of Old Testament times, and they were thought to have special powers.
  6. 2.12 sing: Or “trim the vines.”
  7. 2.15 vineyards: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 15.
  8. 2.17 mountain slopes: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  9. 3.5 deer and gazelles: See the note at 2.7.
  10. 3.10 inside: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

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