The bride

2 Let him kiss me on the lips,

because your caresses are better than wine.

3 As for the fragrance of your perfumes—they’re good.

Your reputation is like fragrant oil

so the eligible young women love you.

4 Take me with you—let’s run.

May the king has brought me to his bedroom.

The bride

It’s right that they love you.

5 I am black but lovely, daughters of Yerushalem (Jerusalem),

like the tents in Kedar.

Like Shelomoh’s (Solomon’s) palace curtains.

6 Don’t look at me, that I’m black.

That the sun scorched me.

My brothers were angry with me.

They forced me to look after our vineyards—

but I haven’t maintained my own vineyard.

7 Declare to me, you who my heart loves.

Where do you graze?

Where do you make your flocks lie down at noontime?

Why should I be like a woman who covers herself beside your companions’ flocks?

The bride

12 While the king was on his couch,

my perfume gave off its fragrance.

13 My dearest is like a perfume sachet

that stays between my breasts.

14 My dearest is like a cluster of henna blossoms to me,

in the Eyn-Gedi vineyards.

The bride

16 Look at you. You’re handsome, my dearest, truly pleasant.

Indeed, our couch is comfortable.

17 The beams of our house are cedar.

≈ Our rafters are pine.

2 I’m a wildflower of Sharon.

≈ A lily of the valleys.

The bride

3 Like an apple tree among the trees in the forest,

so is my dearest among the young men.

In his shadow I greatly delighted, and I sat,

and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

4 He brought me to the house of food and wine

and his desire for me is to show love.

5 Sustain me with raisin cakes.

≈ Refresh me with apples,

because I’m weak with love.

6 His left hand is under my head,

^ and his right arm embraces me.

7 Promise me, you young women from Yerushalem (Jerusalem)

by the female gazelles or the does in the countryside,

don’t awaken or stir love until it’s the right time.