The Bride Confesses Her Love

1Bride: May he kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.. Groom to Bride: So much better than wine are your breasts,

The Bride

2fragranced with the finest perfumes. Bride to Groom: Your name is oil that has been poured out; therefore, the maidens have loved you.

3Draw me forward. Chorus to Bride: We will run after you in the odor of your perfumes. Bride to Chorus: The king has led me into his storerooms. Chorus to Bride: We will exult and rejoice in you, remembering your breasts above wine. Groom to Bride: The righteous love you.

4Bride to Chorus: O daughters of Jerusalem: I am black, but shapely, like the tabernacles of Kedar, like the tents of Solomon.

5Do not be concerned that I am dark, for the sun has changed my color. 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.

6Bride 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.

7Groom 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.

The Friends

8O my love, I have compared you to my company of horsemen against the chariots of Pharaoh.

The Bridegroom

9Your cheeks are beautiful, like those of a turtledove. Your neck is like a bejeweled collar.

10Chorus to Bride: We will fashion for you chains of gold, accented with reddened silver.

The Friends

11Bride to Chorus: While the king was taking his rest, my aromatic ointment sent forth its odor.

The Bride

12My beloved is a bundle of myrrh to me. He shall abide between my breasts.

13My beloved is a cluster of Cyprus grapes to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi.

14Groom to Bride: Behold, you are beautiful, O my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are those of a dove.

The Bridegroom

15Bride to Groom: Behold, you are handsome, O my beloved, and graceful. Our bed is flourishing.

The Bride

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