¹The song of songs, which is Solomon's.

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

³Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

⁴Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

⁵I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

⁷Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

⁸If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.

⁹I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.

¹⁰Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.

¹¹We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.

¹²While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.

¹³A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.

¹⁵Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.

¹⁶Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.

¹⁷The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

¹I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

²As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

³As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

⁴He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

⁵Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

⁶His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

⁷I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

⁸The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

⁹My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

¹⁰My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

¹¹For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

¹²The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

¹³The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

¹⁴O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

¹⁵Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

¹⁶My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.

¹⁷Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

¹The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

²Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

³For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

⁵Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;

⁶Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:

⁷Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.

⁸We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.

⁹I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

¹⁰Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

¹¹Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

¹²Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.

¹³I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee:

¹⁴But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.