Study Desk

Solomon's Finest Song.^[a](a)

W ^[b] Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your^[c] love is^[d] more delightful than wine.^(b)

The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating;^(c) your name is perfume poured out.^(d) No wonder young women^[e] adore you.

Take me with you^(e)—let us hurry. Oh, that the king would bring^[f] me to his chambers. Y We will rejoice and be glad for you; we will praise your love more than wine. W It is only right that they adore you.

Daughters of Jerusalem,^(f) I am dark like the tents of Kedar,^(g) yet lovely^(h) like the curtains of Solomon.

Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has gazed on me. My mother's sons were angry with me;⁽ⁱ⁾ they made me a keeper of the vineyards.^(j) I have not kept my own vineyard.^[g]

Tell me, you, the one I love:^(k) Where do you pasture your sheep?^(l) Where do you let them rest at noon?^(m) Why should I be like one who veils herself^[h][i] beside the flocks of your companions?⁽ⁿ⁾

M ^[j] If you do not know, most beautiful of women,^(o) follow^[k] the tracks of the flock, and pasture your young goats near the shepherds' tents.

I compare you, my darling,^(p) to a^[l] mare among Pharaoh's chariots.^[m](q)

Your cheeks are beautiful with jewelry,^(r) your neck with its necklace.

We will make gold jewelry for you, accented with silver.

W While the king is on his couch,^[n] my perfume^[o] releases its fragrance.^(s)

My love is a sachet of myrrh to me,^(t) spending the night between my breasts.

My love is a cluster of henna blossoms to me,^(u) in the vineyards of En-gedi.^[p](v)

M How beautiful you are, my darling. How very beautiful! Your eyes are doves.^(w)

W How handsome you are, my love.^(x) How delightful! Our bed is lush with foliage;

the beams of our house are cedars, and our rafters are cypresses.^[q]

I am a rose^[a][b] of Sharon, a lily^[c] of the valleys.^(a)

M Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the young women.

W Like an apricot^[d] tree among the trees of the forest, so is my love among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

He brought me to the banquet hall,^[e](b) and he looked on me with love.^[f](c)

Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apricots,^[g] for I am lovesick.^(d)

His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.^[h](e)

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and the wild does of the field: do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time.^[i](f)

Listen! My love is approaching. Look! Here he comes, leaping over the mountains,^(g) bounding over the hills.

My love is like a gazelle or a young stag.^(h) Look, he is standing behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

My love calls to me: M Arise,⁽ⁱ⁾ my darling. Come away, my beautiful one.

For now the winter is past; the rain has ended and gone away.

The blossoms appear in the countryside. The time of singing^[j] has come, and the turtledove's cooing is heard in our land.^(j)

The fig tree ripens its figs;^(k) the blossoming vines give off their fragrance.^(l) Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one.

My dove,^(m) in the clefts of the rock,⁽ⁿ⁾ in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face,^[k] let me hear your voice;^(o) for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.^(p)

(W) Catch the foxes for us^(q)— the little foxes that ruin the vineyards— for our vineyards are in bloom.^(r)

W My love is mine and I am his;^(s) he feeds among the lilies.

Before the day breaks^[l] and the shadows flee, turn to me, my love, and be like a gazelle or a young stag^(t) on the divided mountains.^[m](u)