Song of Solomon 1:5-13

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

⁶Don’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.

⁷Tell 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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