[1] The most beautiful of songs, by Solomon. [2] Your lips cover me with kisses; your love is better than wine. [3] There is a fragrance about you; the sound of your name recalls it. No woman could keep from loving you. [4] Take me with you, and we'll run away; be my king and take me to your room. We will be happy together, drink deep, and lose ourselves in love. No wonder all women love you! [5] Women of Jerusalem, I am dark but beautiful, dark as the desert tents of Kedar, but beautiful as the draperies in Solomon's palace. [6] Don't look down on me because of my color, because the sun has tanned me. My brothers were angry with me and made me work in the vineyard. I had no time to care for myself. [7] Tell me, my love, Where will you lead your flock to graze? Where will they rest from the noonday sun? Why should I need to look for you among the flocks of the other shepherds? [8] Don't you know the place, loveliest of women? Go and follow the flock; find pasture for your goats near the tents of the shepherds. [9] You, my love, excite men as a mare excites the stallions of Pharaoh's chariots. [10] Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks and falls along your neck like jewels. [11] But we will make for you a chain of gold with ornaments of silver. [12] My king was lying on his couch, and my perfume filled the air with fragrance. [13] My lover has the scent of myrrh as he lies upon my breasts. [14] My lover is like the wild flowers that bloom in the vineyards at Engedi. [15] How beautiful you are, my love; how your eyes shine with love! [16] How handsome you are, my dearest; how you delight me! The green grass will be our bed; [17] the cedars will be the beams of our house, and the cypress trees the ceiling.
