NET Bible

Title/Superscription

^1:1 Solomon’s Most Excellent Love Song.

The Desire for Love

^1:1 The Beloved to Her Lover:

^1:2 Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine. ^1:3 The fragrance of your colognes is delightful; your name is like the finest perfume. No wonder the young women adore you! ^1:4 Draw me after you; let us hurry! May the king bring me into his bedroom chambers!

^1:4 The Maidens to the Lover:

^1:4 We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine.

^1:4 The Beloved to Her Lover:

^1:4 How rightly the young women adore you!

The Country Maiden and the Daughters of Jerusalem

^1:4 The Beloved to the Maidens:

^1:5 I am dark but lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Qedar, lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah. ^1:6 Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has burned my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards. Alas, my own vineyard I could not keep!

The Shepherd and the Shepherdess

^1:6 The Beloved to Her Lover:

^1:7 Tell me, O you whom my heart loves, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat? Tell me lest I wander around beside the flocks of your companions!

^1:7 The Lover to His Beloved:

^1:8 If you do not know, O most beautiful of women, simply follow the tracks of my flock, and pasture your little lambs beside the tents of the shepherds.

The Beautiful Mare and the Fragrant Myrrh

^1:8 The Lover to His Beloved:

^1:9 O my beloved, you are like a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions. ^1:10 Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments; your neck is lovely with strings of jewels. ^1:11 We will make for you gold ornaments studded with silver.

^1:11 The Beloved about Her Lover:

^1:12 While the king was at his banqueting table, my nard gave forth its fragrance. ^1:13 My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh spending the night between my breasts. ^1:14 My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En Gedi.

Mutual Praise and Admiration

^1:14 The Lover to His Beloved:

^1:15 Oh, how beautiful you are, my beloved! Oh, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves!

^1:15 The Beloved to Her Lover:

^1:16 Oh, how handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how delightful you are! The lush foliage is our canopied bed; ^1:17 the cedars are the beams of our bedroom chamber; the pines are the rafters of our bedroom.

The Lily among the Thorns and the Apple Tree in the Forest

^1:17 The Beloved to Her Lover: