A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Song of Solomon 1
Song of Solomon 1 is the opening chapter of the twenty-second book of the Bible and the first of the eight short chapters that make up the Song of Songs. The 17-verse chapter opens the love poetry exchanged between a young woman and her beloved.
The chapter opens with its full title: "The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's." This Hebrew expression, "song of songs," means the greatest of all songs.
The young woman speaks first. She wishes the man would kiss her, describing his love as better than wine. She praises the fragrance of his name. She tells the king (a poetic title for her beloved, not necessarily a literal king) that she wants to be drawn to him.
She then addresses the "daughters of Jerusalem," a kind of chorus who reappear throughout the book. She is dark from working in the sun in her family's vineyards, she explains, but still beautiful. She asks her beloved to tell her where he pastures his flock at noon, so she can find him.
A reply comes back, possibly from the man, comparing the woman to a fine mare among Pharaoh's chariots. He praises her cheeks and her neck adorned with jewels.
The chapter closes with an exchange of mutual praise. He calls her beautiful; she calls him handsome. They imagine a green couch under cedar beams and pine rafters, an outdoor bed in the forest. The poetry of the rest of the book follows.
Verse 1. This is Solomon’s Song of Songs.
Verse 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is more delightful than wine.
Verse 3. The fragrance of your perfume is pleasing; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens adore you.
Verse 4. Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.
Verse 5. I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
Verse 6. Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.
Verse 7. Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?
Verse 8. If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.
Verse 9. I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
Verse 10. Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.
Verse 11. We will make you ornaments of gold, studded with beads of silver.
Verse 12. While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
Verse 13. My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts.
Verse 14. My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.
Verse 15. How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.
Verse 16. How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how delightful! The soft grass is our bed.
Verse 17. The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are fragrant firs.
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