1- 1 The song of songs, which is Solomon's

The bride 2 Let him kiss me with the kiss of his lips.

Your love is more delightful than wine;

3 Delicate is the fragrance of your perfume,

your name is an oil poured out,

and that is why the maidens love you.

4 Draw me in your footsteps, let us run.

The King has brought me into your rooms;

you will be our joy and our gladness.

We shall praise your love above wine;

how right it is to love you.

The bride 5 I am black but lovely, daughters of Jerusalem,

like the tents of Kedar,

like the pavilions of Salmah.

6 Take no notice of my swarthiness,

it is the sun that has burned me.

My mother's sons turned their anger on me,

they made me look after the vineyards.

Had I only looked after my own!

7 Tell me then, you whom my heart loves:

Where will you lead your flock to graze,

where will you rest it at noon?

That I may no more wander like a vagabond

beside the flocks of your companions.

The chorus 8 If you do not know this, O loveliest of women,

follow the tracks of the flock,

and take your kids to graze

close by the shepherds' tents.

The Bridegroom 9 To my mare harnessed to Pharaoh's chariot

I compare you my love.

10 Your cheeks show fair between their pendants

And your neck within its necklaces.

11 We shall make you golden earrings

And beads of silver.

Dialogue of 12 - While the King rest in his own room

the Bride and my nard yields its perfume.

Bridegroom 13 My beloved is a sachet of myrrh

Lying between my breasts.

14 My Beloved is a cluster of henna flowers

Among the vines of Engedi.

15 - How beautiful you are, my love,

how beautiful you are!

Your eyes are doves.

16 - How beautiful you are, my Beloved,

and how delightful!

All green is our bed.

17 - The beams of our house are of cedar,

The panelling of cypress.

2- 1 I am the rose of Sharon,

the lily of the valleys.

2 - As a lily among the thistles,

so is my love among the maidens.

3 - As an apple tree among the trees of the orchard,

so is my Beloved among the young men.

In his longed-for shade I am seated

and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

4 He has taken me to his banquet hall,

and the banner he raises over me is love.

5 Feed me with raisin cakes,

restore me with apples,

for I am sick with love.

6 His left arm is under my head,

his right embraces me.

7 - I charge you,

daughter of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles, by the birds of the field,

not to stir my love, nor rouse it,

until it please to awake.

The Bride 8 I hear my Beloved.

See how he comes

leaping on the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

9 My Beloved is like a gazelle,

like a young stag.

See where he sands

behind our wall.

He looks in at the window,

he peers through the lattice.

10 My Beloved lifts up his voice,

he says to me,

"Come then, my love,

my lovely one, come.

11 For see, winter is past,

the rains are over and gone.

12 The flowers appear on the earth.

The season of lad songs has come,

the cooing of the turtledove is heard

in our land.

13 The fig tree is forming its first figs

and the blossoming vines give out their fragrance.

Come then, my love,

my lovely one, come.

14 My dove, hiding in the clefts of the rock,

in the coverts of the cliffs,

let me hear your voice;

for your voice is sweet

and your face is beautiful."

15 Catch the foxes for s,

the little foxes

that make havoc of the vineyards,

for our vineyards are in flower.

16 My Beloved is mine and I am his.

He pastures is flock among the lilies.

17 Before the dawn wind rises,

before the shadows flee,

return! Be, my Beloved,

like a gazelle,

a young stag,

on the mountains of the covenant.

3- 1 On my bed, at night, I sought him

whom my heart loves.

I sought but did not find him.

2 So I will rise and go through the City;

in the streets and squares

I will seek him whom my heart loves.

. . . I sought but did not find him.

3 The watchmen came upon me

on their rounds in the City:

"Have you seen him whom my heart loves?"

4 Scarcely had I passed them

than I found him whom my heart loves.

I held him fast, nor would I let him go

till I had brought him

into my mother's house,

into the room of her who conceived me.

The Bridegroom 5 I charge you,

daughter of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles, by the hinds of the field,

Not to stir my love, nor rouse it,

until it please to awake.

6 What is tis coming from the desert

like a column of smoke,

breading myrrh and frankincense

and every perfume the merchant knows?

7 See, it is the litter of Solomon.

Around it are sixty champions,

the flower of the warriors of Israel;

8 all of them skilled swordsmen,

veterans of battle.

Each man has his sword at his side,

against alarms by night.

9 King Solomon

has made himself a throne

of wood from Lebanon.

10 The posts he has made of silver,

The canopy of gold,

the seat of purple;

the back is inlaid with ebony.

11 Daughter of Zion,

come and see

King Solomon,

wearing the diadem with which his mother crowned him

on his wedding day,

on the day of his heart's joy.

The Bridegroom 4- 1 How beautiful you are, my love,

how beautiful you are!

Your eyes, behind your veil,

are doves;

your hair is like a flock of goats

frisking down the slopes of Gilead.

2 our teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes

as they come up from the washing.

Each one has its twin,

not one unpaired with another.

3 Your ips are a scarlet thread

and your words enchanting.

Your cheeks, behind your veil,

are halves of pomegranate.

4 Your neck is the tower of David

built as a fortress,

hung around with thousand bucklers,

and each the shield of a hero.

5 Your two breasts are two fawns,

twins of a gazelle,

that feed among the lilies.

6 Before the dawn wind rises,

before the shadows flee,

I will go to the mountain of myrrh,

to the hill of frankincense.

7 You are wholly beautiful, my love,

and without blemish.

8 Come from Lebanon, my promised bride,

come from Lebanon, come on your way.

Lower your gaze, from the heights of Amana,

from the crest of Senir and Hermon,

the haunt of lions,

the mountains of leopards.

9 You ravish my heart,

my sister, my promised bride,

you ravish my heart

with a single one of your glances,

with one single pearl of your necklace.

10 What spells lie in your love,

my sister, my promised bride!

How delicious is your love, more delicious than wine!

How fragrant your perfumes,

more fragrant than al other spices!

11 Your lips, my promised one,

distill wild honey;

Honey and milk

are under your tongue;

and the scent of your garments

is like the scent of Lebanon.

12 She is a garden enclosed,

my sister, my promised bride;

a garden enclosed,

a sealed fountain.

13 Your shoos form an orchard of pomegranate trees,

the rarest essences are yours:

14 nard and saffron,

calamus and cinnamon,

with all the incense-bearing trees;

myrrh and aloes,

with the subtlest odours.

15 Fountain that makes the gardens fertile,

well of living water,

streams flowing down from Lebanon.

The Bride 16 Awake, north wind,

come, wind of the south!

Breathe over my garden,

to spread its sweet small around.

Let my Beloved come into his garden,

let him taste its rarest fruits.

The Bridegroom 5- 1 I come into my garden,

my sister, my promised bride,

I gather my myrrh and balsam,

I eat my honey and my honeycomb,

I drink my wine and my milk.

Eat, friends, and drink,

drink deep, my dearest friends.

The Brise 2 I sleep, but my heart is awake.

I hear my Beloved knocking.

"Open to me, my sister, my love

my dove, my perfect one,

for my head is covered with dew,

My locks wit drops of night."

3 - "I have taken off my tunic,

am I to put it on again?

I have washed my feet,

am I to dirty them again?"

4 My Beloved thrust his hand

through the hole in the door;

I trembled to the core of my being.

5 Then I rose

to open to my Beloved,

myrrh ran off my hands,

pure myrrh off my fingers,

on to the handle of the bolt.

6 I opened to my Beloved,

but he had turned his back and gone!

My soul failed at his sight.

I sought him but I did not find him,

I called to him but he did not answer.

7 The watchmen came upon me

as they made their rounds in the City.

They beat me, they wounded me,

they took away my cloak,

they who guard the ramparts.

8 I charge you,

daughter of Jerusalem,

if you should find my Beloved,

what must you tell him . . . ?

That I am sick with love.

The Chorus 9 What makes your Beloved better than other lovers,

O loveliest of women?

What makes your Beloved better than other lovers,

to give us a charge like this?

The Bride 10 My Beloved is fresh and ruddy,

to be known among thousand.

11 His head is golden, purest gold,

his locks are palm fronds

and black as the raven.

12 His eyes are doves

at a pool of water,

bathed in milk,

at rest on a pool.

13 His cheeks are beds of spices,

banks sweetly scented.

His lips are lilies,

distilling pure myrrh.

14 His hand are golden, rounded,

set with jewels of Tarshish.

His belly a block of ivory

covered with sapphires

15 His legs are alabaster columns

set in sockets of pure gold.

His appearance is that of Lebanon,

unrivalled as the cedars.

16 His conversation is sweetness itself,

he is altogether lovable.

Such is my Beloved, such is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.

The Chorus 6- 1 Where did your Beloved go

O loveliest of women?

Which way did your Beloved turn

so that we can help you to look for him?

The Bride 2 My Beloved went down to his garden,

to the beds of spices,

to pasture his flock in the gardens

and gather lilies.

3 I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine.

He pastures his flock among the lilies.

The Bridegroom 4 You are beautiful as Tizzah, my love,

fair as Jerusalem.

Turn your eyes away,

for they hold me captive.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

frisking down the slopes of Gilead.

5 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep

as they come up from the washing.

Each one has its twin,

not one unpaired with another.

6 Your cheeks, behind your veil,

are half of pomegranate.

7 There are sixty queens

and eight concubines

(and countless maidens).

8 But my dove is unique,

mine, unique and perfect.

She is the darling of her mother,

the favourite of the one who bore her.

The maidens saw her, and proclaimed her blessed,

queens and concubines sang er praises:

9 "Who is this arising like the dawn,

fair as the moon,

resplendent as the sun,

terrible as an army with banners?"

10 I went down to the nut orchard

To see what was sprouting in the valley,

to see if the vines were budding

and the pomegranate trees in flower.

11 Before I knew . . . My desire had hurled me

on the chariots of my people, as their prince.

The Chorus 7- 1 Return, return, O maid of Shulam,

return, return, that we may gaze on you!

The Bridegroom Why do you gaze on the maid of Shulam

dancing as though between two rows of dancers?

2 How beautiful are your feet in their sandals,

O prince's daughter!

The curve of your thighs is like the curve of a necklace,

work of a master hand.

3 Your navel is a bowl well rounded

with no lack of wine,

your belly a heap of wheat

surrounded with lilies.

4 Your two breasts are two fawns,

twins of a gazelle.

5 Your neck is an ivory tower.

Your eyes, the pools of Heshbon,

by the gate of Bath-rabbim.

Your nose, the tower of Lebanon,

sentinel facing Damascus.

6 Your head is held high like Carmel,

and its plaits are as dark as purple;

a king is held captive in your tresses.

7 How beautiful you are, how charming,

my love, my delight!

In stature like the palm tree,

8 its fruit clusters your breasts.

"I will climb the palm tree," I resolved,

9 "I will seize its clusters of dates."

May your breasts be clusters of grapes,

your breath sweet-scented as apples,

your speaking, superlative wine.

The Bride 10 Wine flowing straight to my Beloved,

as it runs on the lips of those who sleep.

11 I am my Beloved"s,

and his desire is for me.

12 Come, my Beloved,

Let us go to the fields,

We will spend the night in the villages,

13 and in the morning we will go to the vineyards.

We will see if the vines are budding,

if their blossoms are opening,

if the pomegranate trees are in flower.

Then I shall give you

the gift of my love.

14 The mandrakes yield their fragrance,

the rarest fruits are at our doors;

the new as well as the old,

I have stored them for you, my Beloved.

8- 1 Ah, why are you not my brother,

nursed at my mother's breast!

Then I met you out of doors, I could kiss you

without people thinking ill of me.

2 I should lead you, I should take you

into my mother's house, and you would teach me!

I should give you spiced wine to drink,

juice of my pomegranates.

3 His left arm is under my head

and his right embraces me.

The Bridegroom 4 I charge you,

daughter of Jerusalem,

not to stir my love, nor rouse it,

until it please to awake.

The chorus 5 Who is this coming up from the desert

leaning on her Beloved?

The bridegroom I awakened you under the apple tree,

there were your mother conceived you,

there where she gave birth to you conceived you.

6 St me like a seal on your heart,

like a seal on your arm.

For love is strong as Death,

jealousy relentless as Sheol.

The flash of it is a flash of fire,

a flame of Yahweh himself.

7 Love no flood can quench,

no torrent drown.

Aphorism of a sage

Were a man to offer all the wealth of his house to by love, contempt is all he would purchase.

Two epigrams

Our sister is little: her breasts are not formed. What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoke for? 8 If she is a rampart, on the crest we will build battlement of silver; 9 if she is a door, we will board her up with planks of cedar.

10 - I am a wall, and my breasts represent its towers. And under his eyes I found true peace.

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon. He entrusted it to overseers, 11 and each one was to pay him the value of the produce, a thousand shekels of silver. 12 But I look after my own vineyard myself. You, Solomon, may have your thousand shekels, and those who oversee its produce their two hundred.

Final additions

13 You who dwells in the gardens, my companions listen for your voice; design to let me hear it.

14 Haste away, my Beloved.

Be like a gazelle,

a young stag,

on the spicy mountains.