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¹ The Song of Songs,^[a] which is for^[b] Solomon.

² May^[c] you kiss me^[d] passionately with your lips,^[e]
    for your love is better than wine.^[f]
3 As fragrance, your perfumes^[g] are delightful;^[h]
    your name is poured out perfume;^[i]
        therefore young women love you.
⁴ Draw me after you, let us run!
    May the king bring me into his chambers!^[j]
Let us be joyful and let us rejoice in you;
    let us extol your love more than wine.
        Rightly do they love you!

⁵ I am black but beautiful,^[k] O maidens of Jerusalem,^[l]
    like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
⁶ Do not gaze at me because I am black, ^[m]
    because the sun has stared at me.
The sons of my mother were angry with me;
    they made me keeper of the vineyards,
        but my own "vineyard"^[n] I did not keep.

⁷ Tell me, you whom my heart^[o] loves,
    where do you pasture your flock,
        where do your sheep lie down at the noon?
For why should I be like^[p] one who is veiled^[q]
    beside the flocks of your companions?
⁸ If you do not know, O fairest among women,
    follow the tracks^[r] of the flock,
        and pasture your little lambs^[s] beside the tents of the shepherds.

⁹ To a mare^[t] among the chariots^[u] of Pharaoh,
    I compare you, my beloved.
¹⁰ Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,
    your neck with strings of jewels.
¹¹ We will make ornaments of gold for you
    with studs^[v] of silver.

¹² While the king was on his couch,
    my nard gave its fragrance.
¹³ My beloved is to me a pouch^[w] of myrrh,
    he spends the night^[x] between my breasts.
¹⁴ My beloved is to me a cluster of blossoms of henna
    in the vineyards of En Gedi.

¹⁵ Look! You are beautiful, my beloved.
    Look! You are beautiful;
        your eyes are doves.
¹⁶ Look! You are beautiful, my beloved,
    truly pleasant.
Truly our couch is verdant;^[y]
17     the beams of our house are cedar;
        our rafter is cypress.