Canticle of Canticles 1

¹ Bride: "May he kiss me with the kiss of his mouth."

² Groom to Bride: "So much better than wine are your breasts, fragranced with the finest perfumes."

³ Bride to Groom: "Your name is oil that has been poured out; therefore, the maidens have loved you. Draw me forward."

⁴ Chorus to Bride: "We will run after you in the odor of your perfumes."

⁵ Bride to Chorus: "The king has led me into his storerooms."

⁶ Chorus to Bride: "We will exult and rejoice in you, remembering your breasts above wine."

⁷ Groom to Bride: "The righteous love you."

⁸ Bride to Chorus: "O daughters of Jerusalem: I am black, but shapely, like the tabernacles of Kedar, like the tents of Solomon."

⁹ "Do not be concerned that I am dark, for the sun has changed my color."

¹⁰ "The sons of my mother have fought against me. They have made me the keeper of the vineyards. My own vineyard I have not kept."

¹¹ Bride to Groom: "Reveal to me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you recline at midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of your companions."

¹² Groom to Bride: "If you yourself do not know, O most beautiful among women, then go out and follow after the steps of the flocks, and pasture your young goats beside the tabernacles of the shepherds."

¹³ "O my love, I have compared you to my company of horsemen against the chariots of Pharaoh."

¹⁴ "Your cheeks are beautiful, like those of a turtledove. Your neck is like a bejeweled collar."

¹⁵ Chorus to Bride: "We will fashion for you chains of gold, accented with reddened silver."

¹⁶ Groom to Bride: "The timbers of our houses are of cedar; our ceilings are of cypress."