Song of Songs 1

Love

1 This is Solomon's most beautiful song.

The young woman:

2 Please kiss me with your lips!

Your love makes me happier than wine does.

3 You have put perfume on your body.

It has a lovely smell.

The sound of your name causes pleasure everywhere,

like sweet perfume.

All the young women love you!

4 Take me away with you. Come quickly.

I want the king to take me into his rooms.

1:4The man may be a king. Or, for the woman, he may be like a king, because she gives him honour.

The woman's friends:

1:4The woman is with some friends. The women friends are speaking about the man, not about the woman.

We are very happy!

You make us happy.

We praise your love,

because it is better than wine.

The young woman:

I agree! The young women are right to praise you like that.

5 Young women of Jerusalem, my skin is dark but I am beautiful.

1:5The writer calls her friends the ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’. Jerusalem was the capital city where Solomon was king.

My skin is dark, like the tents of Kedar.

It is beautiful, like the curtains of King Solomon's tent.

6 The sun has caused my skin to become dark.

Please do not look at me as if I am strange.

My brothers were angry with me.

They caused me to work outside in the sun.

I took care of the vineyards,

and I could not take care of my own vineyard, my body.

7 I love you, my dear one.

1:7The woman now speaks to the man that she loves.

Tell me where you take your sheep to eat grass.

Where will you take them to rest at midday?

I do not want to look for you everywhere

among the sheep of your friends.

They might not understand what I am doing.

The man and the woman praise each other

The young man:

8 You are the most beautiful woman of all.

If you do not know where to find me,

follow the marks from the feet of my sheep.

Take your young goats to eat grass

among the tents of the shepherds.

9 My dear friend, you are very beautiful.

You seem to me like a beautiful horse that pulls one of Pharaoh's chariots.

10 Your face is beautiful with jewels.

A necklace makes your neck beautiful too.

11 We will use gold to make ear rings for you,

and we will add pieces of silver.

The young woman:

1:12The woman talks to her friends about her time with the man.

12 While the king was eating a meal,

the sweet smell of my perfume was in the air.

13 My lover is like a bag of myrrh

that lies between my breasts.

14 He is like a group of henna flowers

that grow in the vineyards at En Gedi.

1:14Henna is a plant that has a lovely smell. En Gedi is the name of a pool of water in a desert.

The young man:

15 My dear friend, I see that you are very beautiful!

Yes, you are beautiful

and your eyes are like doves.

The young woman:

16 My lover, I see that you are very handsome!

Yes, you are lovely!

This field of fresh, green grass is our comfortable bed.

17 The cedar trees above us are the beams of our bedroom.

1:17Beams are big pieces of wood that the roof is fixed to.

The pine trees cover us like a roof.