The Song of Songs
Chapter 1
1
The Song of Songs
2
B 2 Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth!
More delightful is your love than wine!
3
Your name spoken is a spreading perfume –
that is why the maidens love you.
4
Draw me!-
D We will follow you eagerly!
B Bring me, O king, to your chambers.
D With you we rejoice and exult,
we extol your love; it is beyond wine:
how rightly you are loved!
5
B 3 I am as dark-but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem –
As the tents of Kedar,
as the curtains of Salma.
6
4 Do not stare at me because I am swarthy,
because the sun has burned me.
My brothers have been angry with me;
they charged me with the care of the vineyards:
my own vineyard I have not cared for.
7
B 5 Tell me, you whom my heart loves,
where you pasture your flock,
where you give them rest at midday,
Lest I be found wandering
after the flocks of your companions.
8
G If you do not know,
O most beautiful among women,
Follow the tracks of the flock
and pasture the young ones
near the shepherds’ camps.
9
G 6 To the steeds of Pharaoh’s chariots
would I liken you, my beloved:
10
Your cheeks lovely in pendants,
your neck in jewels.
11
We will make pendants of gold for you,
and silver ornaments.
12
B 7 For the king’s banquet
my nard gives forth its fragrance.
13
8 My lover is for me a sachet of myrrh
to rest in my bosom.
14
9 My lover is for me a cluster of henna
from the vineyards of Engedi.
15
G 10 Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,
ah, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves!
16
B 11 Ah, you are beautiful, my lover –
yes, you are lovely.
Our couch, too, is verdant;
17
the beams of our house are cedars,
our rafters, cypresses.
1 [1] This title is actually the first verse of chapter 1.
2 [⇒ 1:2-⇒ 8:14] The marginal letters indicate the speaker of the verses: B-Bride; D-Daughters of Jerusalem; G-Bridegroom. In ⇒ Song 1:2-7 the bride and the daughters address the bridegroom who appears here as a king, but more often in the poem as a shepherd. King and shepherd are familiar figures of the Lord in the Sacred Scriptures. Cf ⇒ Psalm 23:1; ⇒ Isaiah 40:11; ⇒ John 10:1-16.
3 [5] Daughters of Jerusalem: the chorus whom the bride addresses and who ask her questions (⇒ Song 5:9; ⇒ 6:1) thus developing action within the poem. Kedar: a Syrian desert region whose name suggests blackness; tents were often made of black goat hair. Curtains: tent coverings of Salma, a region close to Kedar.
4 [6] Swarthy: tanned by the sun from working in her brothers’ vineyards. My own vineyard: the bride herself; cf ⇒ Isaiah 5:1-7 where Israel is designated as the vineyard and the Lord is the Lover.
5 [7] Here and elsewhere in the Song (⇒ Song 3:1; ⇒ 5:8; ⇒ 6:1), the bride expresses her desire to be in the company of her lover. These verses point to a certain tension in the poem. Only at the end (⇒ Song 8:5-14) does mutual possession of the lovers become final.
6 [9-11] The bridegroom compares the girl’s beauty to the rich adornment of the royal chariot of Pharaoh.
7 [12] Nard: a precious perfume, a figure of the bride; cf ⇒ Song 4:14.
8 [13] Myrrh: produced from aromatic resin of balsam or roses.
9 [14] Henna: a plant which bears white scented flowers.
10 [15] Doves: suggesting innocence and charm.
11 [16-17] Though the meeting place of the lovers is but a shepherd’s hut of green branches, it becomes a palace with beams of cedar and rafters of cypress when adorned with their love.
