| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. | 1Solomon's Most Excellent Love Song. |
| 2Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; | 2Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine. |
| 3your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. | 3The fragrance of your colognes is delightful; your name is like the finest perfume. No wonder the young women adore you! |
| 4Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. Others We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they 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! |
| 5I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. | 5I am dark but lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Qedar, lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah. |
| 6Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! | 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! |
| 7Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions? | 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! |
| 8If you do not know, O most beautiful among women, follow in the tracks of the flock, and pasture your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents. | 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. |
| 9I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots. | 9The Lover to His Beloved: O my beloved, you are like a mare among Pharaoh's stallions. |
| 10Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels. | 10Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments; your neck is lovely with strings of jewels. |
| 11We will make for you ornaments of gold, studded with silver. | 11We will make for you gold ornaments studded with silver. |
| 12While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance. | 12While the king was at his banqueting table, my nard gave forth its fragrance. |
| 13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh that lies between my breasts. | 13My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh spending the night between my breasts. |
| 14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Engedi. | 14My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-Gedi. |
| 15Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves. | 15Oh, how beautiful you are, my beloved! Oh, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves! |
| 16Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful. Our couch is green; | 16Oh, how handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how delightful you are! The lush foliage is our canopied bed; |
| 17the beams of our house are cedar; our rafters are pine. | 17the cedars are the beams of our bedroom chamber; the pines are the rafters of our bedroom. |
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