The Young Woman Arrives in Solomon’s Palace
[ BRIDE ]
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.
Your expressions of love are better than wine,
3 better than the fragrance of cologne.
(Cologne should be named after you.)
No wonder the young women love you!
4 Take me with you. Let’s run away.
The king has brought me into his private rooms.
[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]
We will celebrate and rejoice with you.
We will praise your expressions of love more than wine.
How right it is that the young women love you!
[ BRIDE ]
5 Young women of Jerusalem, I am dark and lovely
like Kedar’s tents,
like Solomon’s curtains.
6 Stop staring at me because I am so dark.
The sun has tanned me.
My brothers were angry with me.
They made me the caretaker of the vineyards.
I have not even taken care of my own vineyard.
7 Please tell me, you whom I love, where do you graze your flock?
Where does your flock lie down at noon?
⌞Tell me,⌟ or I will be considered a prostitute
⌞wandering⌟ among the flocks of your companions.
[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]
8 If you do not know, most beautiful of women,
follow the tracks of the flocks,
and graze your young goats near the shepherds’ tents.
Solomon Searches for the Young Woman’s Love
[ GROOM ]
9 My true love, I compare you to a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.
10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of pearls.
[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]
11 We will make gold ornaments with silver beads for you.
[ BRIDE ]
12 While the king is at his table,
my perfume fills the air with its fragrance.
13 My beloved is a pouch of myrrh [a]
that lies at night between my breasts.
14 My beloved is a bouquet of henna flowers
in the vineyards of En Gedi.
[ GROOM ]
15 Look at you! You are beautiful, my true love!
Look at you! You are so beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves!
[ BRIDE ]
16 Look at you! You are handsome, my beloved, so pleasing to me!
The leaf-scattered ground will be our couch.
17 The cedars will be the walls of our house.
The cypress trees will be our rafters.
Footnotes
- 1:13 Myrrh is a fragrant resin used for perfumes, embalming, and deodorizers.