Song of Solomon 1

Speaker labels come from the WEB translators, not the Hebrew text. Beloved is the woman, Lover is the man.

1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

Beloved

2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine.

3 Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you.

4 Take me away with you. Let’s hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. Friends We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love more than wine! Beloved They are right to love you.

5 I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains.

6 Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard.

7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; for why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?

Lover

8 If you don’t know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the sheep. Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.

9 I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.

10 Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.

Friends

11 We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver.

Beloved

12 While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.

13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts.

14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.

Lover

15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves.

Beloved

16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant; and our couch is verdant.

Lover

17 The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.

Around Song of Solomon 1

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Song of Solomon as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

Spring has come, and a woman hears her beloved before she sees him: he comes leaping on the mountains, looking in at the windows. He says, “the winter is past.” She calls herself “a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys”, and says, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.”

The Song of Solomon is a series of love poems like this one. A woman and a man speak to and about each other with longing and delight, in pictures drawn from gardens, vineyards, spices and the countryside. A chorus of friends joins in at points. There is no clear storyline; the poems circle around seeking, finding and belonging.

Background

The first verse links the book with Solomon, which may mean it was written by him, for him or in his tradition. Its date is debated. Love poetry with similar imagery is known from ancient Egypt.

How Christians read it

For most of history Jews read the Song as a picture of God's love for Israel, and Christians as a picture of Christ's love for the church or for the believer. Most readers today take it first as a celebration of love between a woman and a man, which Scripture calls good. Many hold both together: human love is a gift in its own right and also a reflection of a greater love.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes