THE
SONG
OF SOLOMON.
CHAPTER 1
THE song of songs, which is SolomonÕs.
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for
thy love is better than wine.
3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name
is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath
brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will
remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
5 I am
black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the
curtains of Solomon.
6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my motherÕs children
were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou
feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I
be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
8 If thou
know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the
flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherdsÕ tents.
9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of
horses in PharaohÕs chariots.
10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels,
thy neck with chains of gold.
11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of
silver.
12 While
the king sitteth at his table, my
spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my
breasts.
14 My beloved is
unto me as a cluster of camphire in
the vineyards of En-gedi.
15 Behold, thou art
fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;
thou hast dovesÕ eyes.
16 Behold, thou art
fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.
17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our
rafters of fir.
CHAPTER 2
I AM the
rose of Sharon, and the lily of the
valleys.
2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down
under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his
banner over me was love.
5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
6 His left hand is
under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the
roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
8 The
voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping
upon the hills.
9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he
standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself
through the lattice.
10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my
love, my fair one, and come away.
11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the
singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the
vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away.
14 O my
dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy
voice; for sweet is thy voice, and
thy countenance is comely.
15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the
vines: for our vines have tender
grapes.
16 My
beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,
turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of
Bether.
CHAPTER 3
BY night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I
sought him, but I found him not.
2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the
streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought
him, but I found him not.
3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom
I said,
Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
4 It was but a little that I passed from
them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him
go, until I had brought him into my motherÕs house, and into the chamber of her
that conceived me.
5 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the
roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
6 Who is this that cometh out of the
wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with
all powders of the merchant?
7 Behold his bed, which is SolomonÕs; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.
8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath
his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.
9 King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of
Lebanon.
10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of
gold, the covering of it of purple,
the midst thereof being paved with
love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king
Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his
espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
CHAPTER 4
BEHOLD, thou art
fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;
thou hast dovesÕ eyes within thy
locks: thy hair is as a flock of
goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
2 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.
3 Thy lips are
like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is
comely: thy temples are like a piece
of a pomegranate within thy locks.
4 Thy neck is
like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand
bucklers, all shields of mighty men.
5 Thy two breasts are
like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
6 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I
will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
7 Thou art
all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.
8 Come
with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with
me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon,
from the lionsÕ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart
with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love
than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
11 Thy lips, O my
spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey
and milk are under thy tongue; and
the smell of thy garments is like the
smell of Lebanon.
12 A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse;
a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
13 Thy plants are
an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with
all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and
streams from Lebanon.
16 Awake,
O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
CHAPTER 5
I AM come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with
my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my
milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
2 I
sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that
knocketh, saying, Open to me, my
sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the
night.
3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I
have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the
door, and my bowels were moved for
him.
5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands
dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the
handles of the lock.
6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn
himself, and was gone: my soul failed
when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he
gave me no answer.
7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they
smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find
my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am
sick of love.
9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among
women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so
charge us?
10 My beloved is
white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.
11 His head is
as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are
as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.
13 His cheeks are
as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers:
his lips like lilies, dropping sweet
smelling myrrh.
14 His hands are
as gold rings set with the beryl: his
belly is as bright ivory overlaid with
sapphires.
15 His legs are
as pillars of marble, set upon
sockets of fine gold: his countenance is
as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16 His mouth is
most sweet: yea, he is altogether
lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
CHAPTER 6
WHITHER is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among
women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds
of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
3 I am my
belovedÕs, and my beloved is mine: he
feedeth among the lilies.
4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah,
comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome
me: thy hair is as a flock of goats
that appear from Gilead.
6 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.
7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.
8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore
concubines, and virgins without number.
9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and
they praised her.
10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the
sun, and terrible as an army
with banners?
11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the
fruits of the valley, and to see
whether the vine flourished, and the
pomegranates budded.
12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.
13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that
we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the
company of two armies.
CHAPTER 7
HOW beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O princeÕs
daughter! the joints of thy thighs are
like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.
2 Thy navel is
like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like
an heap of wheat set about with lilies.
3 Thy two breasts are
like two young roes that are twins.
4 Thy neck is
as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like
the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh
toward Damascus.
5 Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.
6 How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for
delights!
7 This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy
breasts to clusters of grapes.
8 I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take
hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the
vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;
9 And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my
beloved, that goeth down sweetly,
causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
10 I am my belovedÕs, and his desire is toward me.
11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;
let us lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if
the vine flourish, whether the tender
grape appear, and the pomegranates
bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
13 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.
CHAPTER 8
O THAT thou wert
as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should
not be despised.
2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my motherÕs house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine
of the juice of my pomegranate.
3 His left hand should
be under my head, and his right hand
should embrace me.
4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir
not up, nor awake my love, until he
please.
5 Who is
this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised
thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she
brought thee forth that bare thee.
6 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.
7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the
floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
it would utterly be contemned.
8 We have
a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in
the day when she shall be spoken for?
9 If she be
a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with
boards of cedar.
10 I am a
wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found
favour.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out
the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a
thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:
thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the
fruit thereof two hundred.
13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions
hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.
14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.