The Bride Confesses Her Love

(Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Peter 3:1-7)

1The Song of Songs, that [is] Solomon’s.

2Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth, For better [are] thy loves than wine.

3For fragrance [are] thy perfumes good. Perfume emptied out — thy name, Therefore have virgins loved thee!

The Friends

4Draw me: after thee we run, The king hath brought me into his inner chambers, We do joy and rejoice in thee, We mention thy loves more than wine, Uprightly they have loved thee!

The Bride

5Dark [am] I, and comely, daughters of Jerusalem, As tents of Kedar, as curtains of Solomon.

6Fear me not, because I [am] very dark, Because the sun hath scorched me, The sons of my mother were angry with me, They made me keeper of the vineyards, My vineyard — my own — I have not kept.

7Declare to me, thou whom my soul hath loved, Where thou delightest, Where thou liest down at noon, For why am I as one veiled, By the ranks of thy companions?

Solomon Speaks

8If thou knowest not, O fair among women, Get thee forth by the traces of the flock, And feed thy kids by the shepherds’ dwellings!

9To my joyous one in chariots of Pharaoh, I have compared thee, my friend,

10Comely have been thy cheeks with garlands, Thy neck with chains.

The Friends

11Garlands of gold we do make for thee, With studs of silver!

The Bride

12While the king [is] in his circle, My spikenard hath given its fragrance.

13A bundle of myrrh [is] my beloved to me, Between my breasts it lodgeth.

14A cluster of cypress [is] my beloved to me, In the vineyards of En-Gedi!

Solomon

15Lo, thou [art] fair, my friend, Lo, thou [art] fair, thine eyes [are] doves!

The Bride

16Lo, thou [art] fair, my love, yea, pleasant, Yea, our couch [is] green,

Solomon

17The beams of our houses [are] cedars, Our rafters [are] firs, I [am] a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys!