Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were incensed against me. They made me keeper of the vineyards, [but] my own vineyard I have not kept.

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loves, where thou feed [thy flock], where thou make [it] to rest at noon. For why should I be as she who is veiled beside the flocks of thy companions?

Thy cheeks are comely with plaits [of hair], thy neck with strings of jewels.

Behold, thou are fair, my love, behold thou are fair. Thine eyes are doves.

Behold, thou are fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant. Also our couch is green.

The beams of our house are cedars, our rafters are firs.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake love, until it please.

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart. Behold, he stands behind our wall. He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice.

The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The fig tree ripens her green figs, and the vines are in blossom. They give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

O my dove, who are in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place, let me see thy countenance; let me hear thy voice. For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards. For our vineyards are in blossom.

Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake love, until it please.

Behold, it is the litter of Solomon. Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel.

They all handle the sword, [and] are expert in war. Every man has his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night.

Where has thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Where has thy beloved turned, that we may seek him with thee?

Thou are fair, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, sublime as an army with banners.

Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing, of which every one has twins, and none is bereaved among them.

Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind thy veil.

There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.

I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, [and] the pomegranates were in flower.

How beautiful are thy feet in sandals, O prince's daughter! Thy rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skilful workman.

Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe.

How fair and how pleasant thou are, O love, for delights!

Let us get up early to the vineyards. Let us see whether the vine has budded, its blossom is open, the pomegranates are in flower. There I will give thee my love.

The mandrakes give forth fragrance. And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

Oh that thou were as my brother, who sucked the breasts of my mother! [When] I should find thee outside, I would kiss thee. Yes, and none would despise me.

Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm. For love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as Sheol. The flashes of it are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame.

We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.