1 ARST This is King Solomon’ s most beautiful song. The woman speaking to herself BSB BSB: This is Solomon’s Song of Songs.
2 ARST I wish he would kiss me on my lips, The woman speaking to the man she loves because how you love me is more delightful than wine. BSB BSB: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is more delightful than wine.
3 ARST The fragrance of the perfume on your skin is very pleasing. More and more people are honoring you, just as the fragrance of the perfume that you have put on your skin is spreading farther and farther. That is why the other young women are attracted to you. BSB BSB: The fragrance of your perfume is pleasing; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens adore you.
4 ARST Take me quickly; take me to your home. The woman speaking to herself He is like a king to me; I desire him to bring me into his bedroom. The women of Jerusalem speaking about the man We are very happy about you; we say that how you love is better than wine. It is not surprising that the other young women adore you. The woman speaking to the women of Jerusalem BSB BSB: Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.
5 ARST You young women of Jerusalem, I am brown but beautiful; my dark skin is like the tents in Kedar, and I am beautiful like the curtains in Solomon’ s palace. BSB BSB: I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
6 ARST But do not stare at me because the sun has made my skin dark; my brothers were angry with me, so they forced me to work outside in the sunshine in the vineyards, so I was not able to take good care of my skin. The woman speaking to the man she loves BSB BSB: Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.
7 ARST You whom I love, where will you take your flock of sheep today? Where will you allow them to rest at noontime? I want to know because it is not right for me to wander around like a prostitute, looking for you among the flocks that belong to your friends. The man answering the woman he loves BSB BSB: Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?
8 ARST You who are the most beautiful of all the women, if you search for me and do not know where I will take my sheep, follow the tracks of the sheep. Then allow your young goats to eat grass near the shepherds’ tents. BSB BSB: If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.
9 ARST You are beautiful, my dear one, like one of the young female horses that pull the chariots belonging to the king of Egypt. BSB BSB: I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 ARST Your cheeks are lovely with jewelry, and your neck is lovely with strings of beads around it. BSB BSB: Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.
11 ARST We will make for you some gold earrings that are inlaid with silver. The woman speaking to herself BSB BSB: We will make you ornaments of gold, studded with beads of silver.
12 ARST During the time that he who is like a king to me was on his couch, the smell of my perfume spread around the room. BSB BSB: While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
13 ARST The man whom I love stays between my breasts during the night like a bag of sweet- smelling perfume tied around my neck. BSB BSB: My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts.
14 ARST The man whom I love is like a bunch of the fragrant flowers that are in the grape farms of the city of En Gedi. The man speaking to the woman he loves BSB BSB: My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.
15 ARST My dear one, you are beautiful; you are very beautiful! Your eyes are as gentle and beautiful as doves. The woman speaking to the man she loves BSB BSB: How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.
16 ARST You whom I love, you are very good- looking, you are delightful! The green grass will be like a bed where we lie down. BSB BSB: How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how delightful! The soft grass is our bed.
17 ARST Branches of cedar trees will shade us; branches of pine trees will be like a roof over our heads. BSB BSB: The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are fragrant firs.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.