The Reading
Song of Solomon 1
The Song of Songs, which is for Solomon.

May you kiss me passionately with your lips,
for your love is better than wine.
As fragrance, your perfumes are delightful;
your name is poured out perfume;
therefore young women love you.
Draw me after you, let us run!
May the king bring me into his chambers!
Let us be joyful and let us rejoice in you;
let us extol your love more than wine.
Rightly do they love you!

I am black but beautiful, O maidens of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
Do not gaze at me because I am black,
because the sun has stared at me.
The sons of my mother were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own "vineyard" I did not keep.

Tell me, you whom my heart loves,
where do you pasture your flock,
where do your sheep lie down at the noon?
For why should I be like one who is veiled
beside the flocks of your companions?
If you do not know, O fairest among women,
follow the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your little lambs beside the tents of the shepherds.

To a mare among the chariots of Pharaoh,
I compare you, my beloved.
Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
We will make ornaments of gold for you
with studs of silver.

While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave its fragrance.
My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh,
he spends the night between my breasts.
My beloved is to me a cluster of blossoms of henna
in the vineyards of En Gedi.

Look! You are beautiful, my beloved.
Look! You are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.
Look! You are beautiful, my beloved,
truly pleasant.
Truly our couch is verdant;
the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafter is cypress.
Song of Solomon 2
I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
Like a lily among the thorns,
so is my love among the maidens.
As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
In his shade I sat down with delight,
and his fruit was sweet to my palate.

He brought me to the house of the wine,
and his intention was love toward me.
Sustain me with the raisins,
refresh me with the apples,
for I am lovesick.

His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me.
I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or by the does of the field,
do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!

The voice of my beloved!
Look! Here he comes leaping upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills!
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look! He is standing behind our wall,
gazing through the window,
looking through the lattice.
My beloved answered and said to me,
"Arise, my beloved! Come, my beauty!
For look! The winter is over;
the rainy season has turned and gone away.
The blossoms appear in the land;
the time of singing has arrived;
the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth her figs,
and the vines are in blossom; they give fragrance.
Arise, my beloved! Come, my beauty!"
My dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the secluded place in the mountain,
Let me see your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.
Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes destroying vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom!

My beloved belongs to me and I belong to him;
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
Until the day breathes and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved!
Be like a gazelle or young stag on the cleft mountains.
Song of Solomon 3
On my bed in the night,
I sought him whom my heart loves.
I sought him, but I did not find him.
Now I will arise, and I will go about in the city,
in the streets and in the squares;
I will seek him whom my heart loves.
I sought him, but I did not find him.
The sentinels who go about in the city found me.
"Have you seen the one whom my heart loves?"
Scarcely had I passed by them