The song of songs, which is Solomon's.

The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine.

Thou shalt not see me, I am black; the sun searched me: my mother's sons were angry with me; they set me to watch the vineyards; my vineyard I watched not for me.

There will I tarry for thee, my love, with mine host and with my chariots, which shall be no fewer than Pharaoh's.

“My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh
Which lies all night between my breasts.

I wish that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand were embracing me!

(The Bridegroom)
“I command that you take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field [which run free],
That you do not rouse nor awaken my love
Until she pleases.”

Take for us the foxes, the little foxes, which do damage to the vines; our vines have young grapes.

My love is mine, and I am his, which feedeth among the lilies,

“Until the cool of the day when the shadows flee away,
Return quickly, my beloved, and be like a gazelle
Or a young stag on the mountains of Bether [which separate us].” Cross references: Song of Solomon 2:6 : Deut 33:27; Matt 28:20 Song of Solomon 2:8 : John 10:27 Song of Solomon 2:16 : Matt 10:32; Acts 4:12 end of crossrefs

“I said ‘So I must arise now and go out into the city;
Into the streets and into the squares [places I do not know]
I must seek him whom my soul loves.’
I sought him but I did not find him.

Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

Go forth, and look, ye daughters of Zion, On king Solomon, with the crown, With which his mother crowned him, In the day of his espousals, And in the day of the joy of his heart!

(The Bridegroom)“How fair and beautiful you are, my darling,
How very beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are like those of a dove;
Your hair is like [the shimmering black fleece of] a flock of [Arabian] goats
That have descended from Mount Gilead [beyond the Jordan].

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.

Your neck is like the tower of David made for a store-house of arms, in which a thousand breastplates are hanging, breastplates for fighting-men.

Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.

A fountain in the gardens, A well of living waters, Which stream from Lebanon.

“I arose to open for my beloved;
And my hands dripped with myrrh,
And my fingers with liquid [sweet-scented] myrrh,
On the handles of the bolt.

Y Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way has he turned?
We will seek him with you.

“I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,
He who feeds his flock among the lilies.”

Let your eyes be turned away from me; see, they have overcome me; your hair is as a flock of goats which take their rest on the side of Gilead.

Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.

Return, return, Shulammite, return, return, so we may look at you! Why should you look at the Shulammite, like you watch the dance of the two camps?

O how pleasant are thy treadings, with thy shoes, thou prince's daughter? The joint of thy thighs are like a fair jewel, which is wrought by a cunning work master;

Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.

Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

{How I wish that you were my little brother}, [who] nursed {upon my mother's breasts}! [If] {I met you outside}, I would kiss you, {and no one would despise me}!

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

Many waters are not able to quench the love, And floods do not wash it away. If one give all the wealth of his house for love, Treading down -- they tread upon it.

My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.