Love Is Better than Wine
1 This is Solomon's
most beautiful song.
She Speaks:
2Kiss me tenderly!
Your love is better than wine,
3and you smell so sweet.
All the young women adore you;
the very mention of your name
is like spreading perfume.
* 4Hurry, my king! Let's hurry.
Take me to your home.
The Young Women Speak:
We are happy for you!
And we praise your love
even more than wine.
She Speaks:
Young women of Jerusalem,
it is only right
that you should adore him.
5My skin is dark and beautiful,
like a tent in the desert
or like Solomon's curtains.
6Don't stare at me
just because the sun
has darkened my skin.
My brothers were angry with me;
they made me work in the vineyard,
and so I neglected
my complexion.
7My darling, I love you!
Where do you feed your sheep
and let them rest at noon?
Don't let the other shepherds
think badly of me.
I'm not one of those women
who shamelessly follow
after shepherds.
He Speaks:
8My dearest, if you don't know,
just follow the path
of the sheep.
Then feed your young goats
near the shepherds' tents.
9You move as gracefully
as the pony that leads
the chariot of the king.
10Earrings add to your beauty,
and you wear a necklace
of precious stones.
11Let's make you some jewelry
of gold, woven with silver.
She Speaks:
12My king, while you
were on your couch,
my aroma was a magic charm.
13My darling, you are perfume
between my breasts;
14you are flower blossoms
from the gardens of En-Gedi.
He Speaks:
15My darling, you are lovely,
so very lovely—
your eyes are those of a dove.
She Speaks:
16My love, you are handsome,
truly handsome—
the fresh green grass
will be our wedding bed
17in the shade of cedar
and cypress trees.