Shir Hashirim 1

1. Shir HaShirim, which is Sh’lomo’s

2. Let him kiss me with the neshikot (kisses) of his mouth; for better is dodecha (thy love) than yayin (wine).

3. Tovim is the fragrance of thy shmanim (ointments); thy shem (name) is like shemen (ointment) poured forth; therefore do the alamot love thee [alamot, young unmarried virgins; pl of almah virgin; see Shir HaShirim 6:8; Yeshayah 7:14; Bereshis 24:43; Shemot 2:8; Mishlei 30:19, where the word has this explicit or implicit meaning throughout the Tanakh; see page vii].

4. Draw me; so will we run after thee; the Melech hath brought me into his chadarim (chambers); we will be glad and rejoice in thee; we will extol dodecha (thy love) more than yayin; uprightly have they loved thee.

5. Shechorah (black, dark, sun-blackened) am I, yet lovely, O ye banot Yerushalayim, like the oholim (tents) of Kedar, like the curtains of Sh’lomo.

6. Let your eyes burn not into me because I am black, because the shemesh hath burned its eyes into me; bnei immi (my step-brothers) were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the kramim (vineyards); but mine own kerem (vineyard) have I not kept.

7. O tell me, thou whom my nefesh loveth, where feedest thou? Where makest thou thy flock to lie down at noon? For why should I be as one who veils herself among the edrei chaverecha (the flocks of thy chaverim, fellow companions)?

8. If thou know not, O thou fairest among nashim, go thy way forth by the footprints of the tzon, and feed thy young goats beside the mishkenot haro’im (the tents of the shepherds).

9. O my love, to a susah (mare) among the chariots of Pharaoh do I compare thee.

10. Thy cheeks are lovely with ornaments, thy tzavar (neck) with necklaces.

11. Ornaments of zahav will we make for thee, studded with kesef.

12. While the Melech is at his table, my spikenard perfume has yielded its fragrance.

13. Dodi (my beloved) is to me a sachet of myrrh that lieth in my bosom.

14. Dodi (my beloved) is to me as a cluster of henna blooms in the kramim (vineyards) of Ein-Gedi.

15. See, thou art yafeh (fair), my love; see, thou art fair; thine eynayim are yonim (doves).

16. See, thou art yafeh (handsome), dodi (my beloved), yea, na’im (pleasing); also our couch is verdant.

17. The beams of our bais are cedar, and our rafters are cypress.