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Shir Hashirim 1:1-10 Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB)

1. Shir HaShirim, which is Sh'lomo's

2. Let him kiss me with the neshikot (kisses) of his mouth; for better is dodecha (thy love) than yayin (wine).

3. Tovim is the fragrance of thy shmanim (ointments); thy shem (name) is like shemen (ointment) poured forth; therefore do the alamot love thee [alamot, young unmarried virgins; pl of almah virgin; see Shir HaShirim 6:8; Yeshayah 7:14; Bereshis 24:43; Shemot 2:8; Mishlei 30:19, where the word has this explicit or implicit meaning throughout the Tanakh; see page vii].

4. Draw me; so will we run after thee; the Melech hath brought me into his chadarim (chambers); we will be glad and rejoice in thee; we will extol dodecha (thy love) more than yayin; uprightly have they loved thee.

5. Shechorah (black, dark, sun-blackened) am I, yet lovely, O ye banot Yerushalayim, like the oholim (tents) of Kedar, like the curtains of Sh'lomo.

6. Let your eyes burn not into me because I am black, because the shemesh hath burned its eyes into me; bnei immi (my step-brothers) were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the kramim (vineyards); but mine own kerem (vineyard) have I not kept.

7. O tell me, thou whom my nefesh loveth, where feedest thou? Where makest thou thy flock to lie down at noon? For why should I be as one who veils herself among the edrei chaverecha (the flocks of thy chaverim, fellow companions)?

8. If thou know not, O thou fairest among nashim, go thy way forth by the footprints of the tzon, and feed thy young goats beside the mishkenot haro'im (the tents of the shepherds).

9. O my love, to a susah (mare) among the chariots of Pharaoh do I compare thee.

10. Thy cheeks are lovely with ornaments, thy tzavar (neck) with necklaces.

Read complete chapter Shir Hashirim 1