Young Woman*1:1 The headings identifying the speakers are not in the original text, though the Hebrew usually gives clues by means of the gender of the person speaking.

2Kiss me and kiss me again,

for your love is sweeter than wine.

3How pleasing is your fragrance;

your name is like the spreading fragrance of scented oils.

No wonder all the young women love you!

4Take me with you; come, let’s run!

The king has brought me into his bedroom.

Young Women of Jerusalem

How happy we are for you, O king.

We praise your love even more than wine.

Young Woman

How right they are to adore you.

5I am dark but beautiful,

O women of Jerusalem—

dark as the tents of Kedar,

dark as the curtains of Solomon’s tents.

6Don’t stare at me because I am dark—

the sun has darkened my skin.

My brothers were angry with me;

they forced me to care for their vineyards,

so I couldn’t care for myself—my own vineyard.

7Tell me, my love, where are you leading your flock today?

Where will you rest your sheep at noon?

For why should I wander like a prostitute*1:7 Hebrew like a veiled woman.

among your friends and their flocks?

Young Man

8If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman,

follow the trail of my flock,

and graze your young goats by the shepherds’ tents.

9You are as exciting, my darling,

as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.

10How lovely are your cheeks;

your earrings set them afire!

How lovely is your neck,

enhanced by a string of jewels.

11We will make for you earrings of gold

and beads of silver.

Young Woman

12The king is lying on his couch,

enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume.

13My lover is like a sachet of myrrh

lying between my breasts.

14He is like a bouquet of sweet henna blossoms

from the vineyards of En-gedi.