Songofsolomon 1 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Traditionally the reign of Solomon, around 970 to 930 BC, though the collection may have been gathered and polished over later centuries
Location
The royal court in Jerusalem, with the countryside vineyards of the north and the shepherds' pastures in the background
Audience
Ancient Israelites, who read and sang this as love poetry belonging to their sacred writings
Situation
The book opens with a young woman longing aloud for her beloved's kisses, teasing the court women of Jerusalem about her sun-darkened skin, and searching for where her shepherd rests his flock at midday. The two lovers trade compliments, comparing each other to a royal mare, to perfume, and to a bed of green branches.
Key Background
Ancient Near Eastern love poetry, well known from Egyptian song collections of the same era, regularly used garden, spice, and flock imagery for desire, and this book stands in that tradition rather than telling a continuous story. Pale skin marked a woman who did not work outdoors, so the speaker's darker skin points to being sent out to guard the family vineyards, a note about class rather than beauty. Perfumes named here, nard and henna and myrrh, were imported luxury goods, so praising a lover in those terms was the ancient equivalent of comparing someone to the most expensive thing in the room.
The most which belongs to
Let him me with the of his mouth — your is better than wine.
The fragrance of your is intoxicating; your is like perfume poured out — no wonder the are drawn to you.
Take me with you — let us run! The king has brought me into his We will celebrate and delight in you; we will savor your more than wine. How right they are to adore you!
I am and of — dark as the tents of as the curtains of Solomon.
Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the has on me. My were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own I have not kept.
Tell me, you my — where do you graze your flock? Where do you rest them at noon? Why should I be like a wandering among the flocks of your companions?
If you do not know, most of follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats beside the shepherds' tents.
To a I compare you, my
Your cheeks are lovely between the your neck between the of
We will make you of studded with silver.
While the king at my sends out its fragrance.
My is to me a of resting between my breasts.
My beloved is to me a cluster of from the vineyards of
How you are, my darling — how Your eyes are
How you are, my beloved — how delightful! The green grass is our
The beams of our house are our rafters are