NET Bible | New Living Translation |
1Solomon's Most Excellent Love Song. | 1This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonderful than any other. Young Woman |
2Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine. | 2Kiss me and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine. |
3The fragrance of your colognes is delightful; your name is like the finest perfume. No wonder the young women adore you! | 3How pleasing is your fragrance; your name is like the spreading fragrance of scented oils. No wonder all the young women love you! |
4Draw me after you; let us hurry! May the king bring me into his bedroom chambers! The Maidens to the Lover: We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. The Beloved to Her Lover: How rightly the young women adore 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 lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Qedar, lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah. | 5I am dark but beautiful, O women of Jerusalem— dark as the tents of Kedar, dark as the curtains of Solomon’s tents. |
6Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has burned my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards. Alas, my own vineyard I could not keep! | 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, O you whom my heart loves, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat? Tell me lest I wander around beside the flocks of your companions! | 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 among your friends and their flocks? Young Man |
8If you do not know, O most beautiful of women, simply follow the tracks of my flock, and pasture your little lambs beside the tents of the shepherds. | 8If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman, follow the trail of my flock, and graze your young goats by the shepherds’ tents. |
9The Lover to His Beloved: O my beloved, you are like a mare among Pharaoh's stallions. | 9You are as exciting, my darling, as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions. |
10Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments; your neck is lovely with strings of jewels. | 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 gold ornaments studded with silver. | 11We will make for you earrings of gold and beads of silver. Young Woman |
12While the king was at his banqueting table, my nard gave forth its fragrance. | 12The king is lying on his couch, enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume. |
13My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh spending the night between my breasts. | 13My lover is like a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts. |
14My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-Gedi. | 14He is like a bouquet of sweet henna blossoms from the vineyards of En-gedi. Young Man |
15Oh, how beautiful you are, my beloved! Oh, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves! | 15How beautiful you are, my darling, how beautiful! Your eyes are like doves. Young Woman |
16Oh, how handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how delightful you are! The lush foliage is our canopied bed; | 16You are so handsome, my love, pleasing beyond words! The soft grass is our bed; |
17the cedars are the beams of our bedroom chamber; the pines are the rafters of our bedroom. | 17fragrant cedar branches are the beams of our house, and pleasant smelling firs are the rafters. |
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