Song of Solomon 1 YLT
Summary: The woman (the Shulammite) opens the poem longing for her beloved's kisses, praising his love as "better than wine" (v. 2), and explaining self-consciously that she is "black but beautiful," darkened by the sun because her brothers made her keep the vineyards. She asks where he pastures his flock so she can find him; the daughters of Jerusalem and the man's voice answer, comparing her to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots and praising her cheeks and neck adorned with jewels. She replies that while the king was at his table her perfume filled the air, calling him a sachet of myrrh and a cluster of henna blossoms; the two exchange admiring praise of each other's eyes, and the chapter closes with them together beneath a leafy, cedar-beamed couch.
1The Song of Songs, that is Solomon's.
2Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth, For better are thy loves than wine.
3For fragrance are thy perfumes good. Perfume emptied out--thy name, Therefore have virgins loved thee!
4Draw me: after thee we run, The king hath brought me into his inner chambers, We do joy and rejoice in thee, We mention thy loves more than wine, Uprightly they have loved thee!
5Dark am I, and comely, daughters of Jerusalem, As tents of Kedar, as curtains of Solomon.
6Fear me not, because I am very dark, Because the sun hath scorched me, The sons of my mother were angry with me, They made me keeper of the vineyards, My vineyard--my own--I have not kept.
7Declare to me, thou whom my soul hath loved, Where thou delightest, Where thou liest down at noon, For why am I as one veiled, By the ranks of thy companions?
8If thou knowest not, O fair among women, Get thee forth by the traces of the flock, And feed thy kids by the shepherds' dwellings!
9To my joyous one in chariots of Pharaoh, I have compared thee, my friend,
10Comely have been thy cheeks with garlands, Thy neck with chains.
11Garlands of gold we do make for thee, With studs of silver!
12While the king is in his circle, My spikenard hath given its fragrance.
13A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, Between my breasts it lodgeth.
14A cluster of cypress is my beloved to me, In the vineyards of En-Gedi!
15Lo, thou art fair, my friend, Lo, thou art fair, thine eyes are doves!
16Lo, thou art fair, my love, yea, pleasant, Yea, our couch is green,
17The beams of our houses are cedars, Our rafters are firs, I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys!
Also read this chapter in: KJV, WEB, ASV, WYC, GNV, WBT, DBY