Read the Bible

Beloved

^(F1)

² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth-
for your love is more delightful than wine.

³ Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the maidens love you!

⁴ Take me away with you-let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.

Friends

We rejoice and delight in you ^(F2) ;
we will praise your love more than wine.

Beloved
How right they are to adore you!

⁵ Dark am I, yet lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Kedar,
like the tent curtains of Solomon.

⁶ Do not stare at me because I am dark,
because I am darkened by the sun.
My mother's sons were angry with me
and made me take care of the vineyards;
my own vineyard I have neglected.

⁷ Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock
and where you rest your sheep at midday.
Why should I be like a veiled woman
beside the flocks of your friends?

Friends

⁸ If you do not know, most beautiful of women,
follow the tracks of the sheep
and graze your young goats
by the tents of the shepherds.

Lover

⁹ I liken you, my darling, to a mare
harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh.

¹⁰ Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
your neck with strings of jewels.

¹¹ We will make you earrings of gold,
studded with silver.

Beloved

¹² While the king was at his table,
my perfume spread its fragrance.

¹³ My lover is to me a sachet of myrrh
resting between my breasts.

¹⁴ My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
from the vineyards of En Gedi.

Lover

¹⁵ How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.

Beloved

¹⁶ How handsome you are, my lover!
Oh, how charming!
And our bed is verdant.

Lover

¹⁷ The beams of our house are cedars;
our rafters are firs.