World English Bible
- The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
- Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine.
- Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you.
- 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.
- I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains.
- 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.
- 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?
- If you don’t know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the sheep. Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.
- I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.
- Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.
- We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver.
- While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
- My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts.
- My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.
- Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves.
- Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant; and our couch is verdant.
- The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.
The Song begins not with a doctrine, command, or genealogy, but with desire: “Let him kiss me” (Song of Solomon 1:2, World English Bible). Scripture is unembarrassed by embodied love. Before this poem becomes a picture of Christ and the Church, it must be allowed to honor what God created: faithful human affection, mutual delight, and the holiness of being fully seen.
Yet within the whole canon, marital love becomes a window into a greater mystery. Origen and, later, Bernard of Clairvaux heard in these kisses the soul’s longing for God—not merely for information about Him, but for communion with Him. We may know every fact about bread and still starve. The beloved does not ask for a lecture; she asks for presence.
“Your name is oil poured out” contains a Hebrew wordplay: shem means “name,” while shemen means “oil.” In the biblical world, perfumed oil filled a room and clung to the person who carried it. A name was likewise more than a label; it was character made known.
God’s name reaches us in this way. His glory is not sealed in heaven but poured into history—through covenant, incarnation, cross, and Spirit. Christ does not merely tell us what God is like; He carries the fragrance of God into our wounded world. The question is whether His name has become only familiar language to us, or whether it still fills the room.
The woman declares, “I am dark, but lovely.” Kedar’s tents were woven from dark goat hair; royal curtains suggested costly beauty. She holds both images together. Her sun-darkened skin likely marked outdoor labor and lower social standing. Her brothers had forced her to guard their vineyards, while her “own vineyard” went neglected.
This is more than insecurity. It is the testimony of someone whose usefulness to others has nearly separated her from herself. Even Christian service can become another vineyard imposed upon us. We may maintain ministries, homes, reputations, and expectations while the inner life with God lies unattended.
Yet the beloved does not agree with the crowd’s contempt. He calls her beautiful. Grace does not wait for her to become unscarred. Divine love sees truthfully, but it does not see cruelly.
When she cannot find her beloved, she is told to “follow the tracks of the sheep.” This is quiet wisdom for seasons when God seems hidden. Do not invent a new road. Follow the ancient tracks: Scripture, prayer, the Lord’s Supper, fellowship, mercy, repentance. The Shepherd is often found along paths worn by faithful feet.
En Gedi, mentioned later, is a spring-fed oasis beside the Dead Sea. That landscape gives the chapter its final wonder: amid salt, heat, and stone, love becomes a flowering place. God does not always remove the wilderness. Sometimes He causes a garden to appear within it.
Suggested cross-references: Psalm 23:1–3; Hosea 2:14–20; John 10:14–16; Ephesians 5:25–32; 2 Corinthians 2:14–16.
Suggested hymn: “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts.”
Lord Jesus, awaken in us a holy longing for Your presence. Teach us to receive the name poured out for us, to believe Your loving verdict over our shame, and to tend the vineyard of the soul. When You seem hidden, keep our feet in the faithful tracks until wilderness blooms with Your nearness. Amen.
Narrated version of this devotional on Song of Solomon Chapter 1