ASV - Song of Solomon Chapter 1 to 4

1 Song of Solomon 1

¹The Song of songs, which is Solomon's. ²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; For thy love is better than wine. ³Thine oils have a goodly fragrance; Thy name is as oil poured forth; Therefore do the virgins love thee. ⁴Draw me; we will run after thee: The king hath brought me into his chambers; We will be glad and rejoice in thee; We will make mention of thy love more than of wine: Rightly do they love thee. ⁵I am black, but comely, Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon. ⁶Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, Because the sun hath scorched me. My mother's sons were incensed against me; They made me keeper of the vineyards; But mine own vineyard have I not kept. ⁷Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, Where thou makest it to rest at noon: For why should I be as one that is veiled Beside the flocks of thy companions? ⁸If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. ⁹I have compared thee, O my love, To a steed in Pharaoh's chariots. ¹⁰Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair, Thy neck with strings of jewels. ¹¹We will make thee plaits of gold With studs of silver. ¹²While the king sat at his table, My spikenard sent forth its fragrance. ¹³My beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh, That lieth betwixt my breasts. ¹⁴My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna-flowers In the vineyards of En-gedi. ¹⁵Behold, thou art fair, my love; Behold thou art fair; Thine eyes are as doves. ¹⁶Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: Also our couch is green. ¹⁷The beams of our house are cedars, And our rafters are firs.

2 Song of Solomon 2

¹I am a rose of Sharon, A lily of the valleys. ²As a lily among thorns, So is my love among the daughters. ³As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste. ⁴He brought me to the banqueting-house, And his banner over me was love. ⁵Stay ye me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am sick from love. ⁶His left hand is under my head, And his right hand doth embrace me. ⁷I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the roes, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, Until he please. ⁸The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh, Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills. ⁹My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: Behold, he standeth behind our wall; He looketh in at the windows; He glanceth through the lattice. ¹⁰My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. ¹¹For, lo, the winter is past; The rain is over and gone; ¹²The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land; ¹³The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs, And the vines are in blossom; They give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. ¹⁴O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, In the covert of the steep place, Let me see thy countenance, Let me hear thy voice; For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. ¹⁵Take us the foxes, the little foxes, That spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in blossom. ¹⁶My beloved is mine, and I am his: He feedeth his flock among the lilies. ¹⁷Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart Upon the mountains of Bether.

3 Song of Solomon 3

¹By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. ²I said, I will rise now, and go about the city; In the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. ³The watchmen that go about the city found me; To whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? ⁴It was but a little that I passed from them, When I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, Until I had brought him into my mother's house, And into the chamber of her that conceived me. ⁵I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the roes, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, Until he please. ⁶Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness Like pillars of smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all powders of the merchant? ⁷Behold, it is the litter of Solomon; Threescore mighty men are about it, Of the mighty men of Israel. ⁸They all handle the sword, and are expert in war: Every man hath his sword upon his thigh, Because of fear in the night. ⁹King Solomon made himself a palanquin Of the wood of Lebanon. ¹⁰He made the pillars thereof of silver, The bottom thereof of gold, the seat of it of purple, The midst thereof being paved with love, From the daughters of Jerusalem. ¹¹Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon, With the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him In the day of his espousals, And in the day of the gladness of his heart.

4 Song of Solomon 4

¹Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, That lie along the side of mount Gilead. ²Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn, Which are come up from the washing, Whereof every one hath twins, And none is bereaved among them. ³Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, And thy mouth is comely. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate Behind thy veil. ⁴Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armory, Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, All the shields of the mighty men. ⁵Thy two breasts are like two fawns That are twins of a roe, Which feed among the lilies. ⁶Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, And to the hill of frankincense. ⁷Thou art all fair, my love; And there is no spot in thee. ⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, With me from Lebanon: Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions' dens, From the mountains of the leopards. ⁹Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck. ¹⁰How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride! How much better is thy love than wine! And the fragrance of thine oils than all manner of spices! ¹¹Thy lips, O my bride, drop as the honeycomb: Honey and milk are under thy tongue; And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. ¹²A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. ¹³Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants, ¹⁴Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. ¹⁵Thou art a fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And flowing streams from Lebanon. ¹⁶Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, And eat his precious fruits.