Song of Songs 1:1-7

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 young man: