Title/Superscription, 1
1:1 Solomon’s Most Excellent Love Song.
The Desire for Love, 2-4
The Beloved to Her Lover:
1:2 Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately!
For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine.
1:3 The fragrance of your colognes is delightful;
your name is like the finest perfume.
No wonder the young women adore you!
1:4 Draw me after you; let us hurry!
May the king bring me into his bedroom chambers!
The Maidens to the Lover:
We will rejoice and delight in you;
we will praise your love more than wine.
The Beloved to Her Lover:
How rightly the young women adore you!
The Country Maiden and the Daughters of Jerusalem, 5-6
The Beloved to the Maidens:
1:5 I am dark but lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Qedar,
lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah.
1:6 Do not stare at me because I am dark,
for the sun has burned my skin.
My brothers were angry with me;
they made me the keeper of the vineyards.
Alas, my own vineyard I could not keep!
I am dark but lovely – ‘The context (v. 6) makes it clear that the girl is not of negroid stock, but has simply been tanned very dark. In complexion she is darker than her companions, but her beauty shines through.’ (Lloyd Carr)