Song of Solomon 1

General context

The first line calls the book the song of songs and says it is Solomon's. A feminine voice then speaks: let him kiss me, for thy love is better than wine; his name is as ointment poured forth, so the virgins love him. She asks to be drawn, says the king has brought her into his chambers, and a plural voice says we will be glad and rejoice in thee and remember thy love more than wine. She tells the daughters of Jerusalem that she is black but comely, like the tents of Kedar and the curtains of Solomon, that the sun has looked on her, that her mother's children were angry with her and made her keeper of the vineyards, and that her own vineyard she has not kept. She asks the one her soul loves where he feeds his flock and makes it rest at noon, so that she need not turn aside by his companions' flocks. A reply tells the fairest among women to go by the footsteps of the flock and feed her kids beside the shepherds' tents. A voice addressing my love compares her to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots, praises her cheeks with rows of jewels and her neck with chains of gold, and promises borders of gold with studs of silver. She says her spikenard sends out its smell while the king sits at his table, that her wellbeloved is a bundle of myrrh lying all night between her breasts and a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi. He tells her twice that she is fair and has doves' eyes; she answers that he is fair and pleasant, that their bed is green, and that the beams of their house are cedar and the rafters fir.

Cited passages: Song of Solomon 1:1, Song of Solomon 1:2, Song of Solomon 1:3, Song of Solomon 1:4, Song of Solomon 1:5, Song of Solomon 1:6, Song of Solomon 1:7, Song of Solomon 1:8, Song of Solomon 1:9, Song of Solomon 1:10, Song of Solomon 1:11, Song of Solomon 1:12, Song of Solomon 1:13, Song of Solomon 1:14, Song of Solomon 1:15, Song of Solomon 1:16, Song of Solomon 1:17

Song of Solomon 1 (KJV)

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Historical context

The chapter has no narrator and no speaker labels; the text marks its voices only by the forms of address. The feminine voice calls the man my beloved and my wellbeloved and speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem; the voice that calls her my love is the one she addresses. The reply in verse 8 is not marked, and the text does not say whether the man or the daughters answer her question about the flock. Verses 4 and 11 use we, so more than one voice is present, but the text does not name the group. The opening line says the song is Solomon's and verse 5 names the curtains of Solomon in a comparison; the text does not say that Solomon speaks any line, and the king of verses 4 and 12 is not named. Kedar, Pharaoh's chariots and the vineyards of En-gedi appear only as comparisons, with no description of the places. The woman's family is described only as my mother's children, who were angry with her and made her keep vineyards; no names are given. She attributes her blackness to the sun, and the text says nothing more about her origin. No occasion, place of speaking or date is stated anywhere in the chapter.

Cited passages: Song of Solomon 1:13, Song of Solomon 1:5, Song of Solomon 1:9, Song of Solomon 1:8, Song of Solomon 1:4, Song of Solomon 1:11, Song of Solomon 1:1, Song of Solomon 1:14, Song of Solomon 1:6

Literary context

The poem begins in the middle of a wish, let him kiss me, and slides at once from him to thee, so the man is spoken of and spoken to in one verse. Wine is the first measure of love and returns in verse 4; ointment and name are set side by side; the vineyard the woman was made to keep is set against the one she has not kept, an image the book returns to at its end. A question and reply about where the flock feeds at noon moves the poem out of the king's chambers into fields and shepherds' tents. Praise then passes back and forth. He compares her to horses in Pharaoh's chariots and to jewels and gold; she answers with smells, spikenard, myrrh and camphire, and with the body, myrrh lying all night between her breasts. The chapter closes on a matched pair: behold, thou art fair, my love, spoken twice, is answered by behold, thou art fair, my beloved, and the two voices share one bed and one house of cedar and fir. The daughters of Jerusalem, addressed here for the first time, become the audience the woman turns to throughout the book.

Cited passages: Song of Solomon 1:2, Song of Solomon 1:4, Song of Solomon 1:3, Song of Solomon 1:6, Song of Solomon 8:12, Song of Solomon 1:7, Song of Solomon 1:8, Song of Solomon 1:9, Song of Solomon 1:12, Song of Solomon 1:13, Song of Solomon 1:15, Song of Solomon 1:16, Song of Solomon 1:17, Song of Solomon 2:7

Key moments

1. Love better than wine (Song of Solomon 1:2). A feminine voice opens the song asking for kisses and calling his love better than wine.
2. Black but comely (Song of Solomon 1:5). She tells the daughters of Jerusalem she is black but comely, like the tents of Kedar.
3. My own vineyard not kept (Song of Solomon 1:6). Her mother's children made her keep vineyards, but her own vineyard she has not kept.
4. Where thou feedest (Song of Solomon 1:7). She asks the one her soul loves where he rests his flock at noon.
5. Horses in Pharaoh's chariots (Song of Solomon 1:9). A voice compares her to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
6. A bundle of myrrh (Song of Solomon 1:13). She calls her wellbeloved a bundle of myrrh lying all night between her breasts.
7. Fair, and fair (Song of Solomon 1:16). His praise of her doves' eyes is answered by hers that he is fair and pleasant.

For reflection

The woman says she was made the keeper of the vineyards but has not kept her own, and the chapter says nothing more about what that vineyard is. What does the poem gain by leaving that line unexplained beside so much open praise?

People in this chapter

• Solomon

Also indexed here:

• Kedar
• Pharaoh