2  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your love is ^bbetter than wine;

3  your anointing oils are fragrant;

your name is oil poured out;

therefore virgins love you.

4  ^cDraw me after you; let us run.

The king has ^dbrought me into his chambers.

We will exult and rejoice in you;

we will extol your love more than wine;

rightly do they love you.

5  I am very dark, but lovely,

O ^edaughters of Jerusalem,

like the ^ftents of Kedar,

like the curtains of Solomon.

6  Do not gaze at me because I am dark,

because the sun has looked upon me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me;

they made me ^gkeeper of the vineyards,

but ^hmy own vineyard I have not kept!

7  Tell me, you ⁱwhom my soul loves,

where you pasture your flock,

where you make it lie down at noon;

for why should I be like one who veils herself

beside the flocks of your ^jcompanions?

8  If you do not know,

^kO most beautiful among women,

follow in the tracks of the flock,

and pasture your young goats

beside the shepherds’ tents.

9  I compare you, ^lmy love,

to a mare among Pharaoh’s ^mchariots.

10  Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,

your neck with strings of jewels.

11  We will make for you² ornaments of gold,

studded with silver.

12  While the king was on his couch,

my ⁿnard gave forth its fragrance.

13  My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh

that lies between my breasts.

14  My beloved is to me a cluster of ^ohenna blossoms

in the vineyards of Engedi.

15  ^pBehold, ^qyou are beautiful, my love;

behold, you are beautiful;

^ryour eyes are doves.

16  Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.

Our couch is green;

17  the beams of our house are cedar;

our rafters are pine.

1  I am a rose³ of ^sSharon,

a lily of the valleys.

2  As a lily among brambles,

so is ^tmy love among the young women.

3  As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

so is ^umy beloved among the young men.

With great delight I sat in his shadow,

and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

4  He ^vbrought me to the banqueting house,⁴

and his ^wbanner over me was love.

5  Sustain me with raisins;

refresh me with apples,

for ^xI am sick with love.

6  ^yHis left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me!

7  ^zI adjure you,⁵ O ^adaughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

8  The voice of my beloved!

Behold, he comes,

leaping over the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

9  My beloved is ^blike a gazelle

or a young stag.

Behold, there he stands

behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

looking through the lattice.

10  My beloved speaks and says to me:

“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

11  for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

12  The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing⁶ has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

13  The fig tree ripens its figs,

and the vines are in ^cblossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.

14  O ^dmy dove, in the clefts of the rock,

in the crannies of the cliff,

let me see your face,

^elet me hear your voice,

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely.

15  Catch the foxes⁷ for us,

the little foxes

that spoil the vineyards,

for our vineyards are in blossom.”

16  ^fMy beloved is mine, and I am his;

he ^ggrazes⁸ among the lilies.

17  ^hUntil the day breathes

and the shadows flee,

turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle

or a young stag on cleft mountains.⁹