1Solomon’s Song of Songs.
She[1]
2Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine.
3Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the young women love you!
4Take me away with you—let us hurry!
God reserved a whole book of the Bible to talk about love and sex! Surprised? Sex is God’s gift to married couples—it lets spiritually bonded couples become physically one.
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Let the king bring me into his chambers.
Friends
We rejoice and delight in you[2];
we will praise your love more than wine.
She
How right they are to adore you!
5Dark am I, yet lovely,
daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Kedar,
like the tent curtains of Solomon.[3]
6Do not stare at me because I am dark,
because I am darkened by the sun.
My mother’s sons were angry with me
and made me take care of the vineyards;
my own vineyard I had to neglect.
7Tell me, you whom I love,
where you graze your flock
and where you rest your sheep at midday.
Why should I be like a veiled woman
beside the flocks of your friends?
Friends
8If you do not know, most beautiful of women,
follow the tracks of the sheep
and graze your young goats
by the tents of the shepherds.
He
9I liken you, my darling, to a mare
among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.
10Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
your neck with strings of jewels.
11We will make you earrings of gold,
studded with silver.
She
12While the king was at his table,
my perfume spread its fragrance.
13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
resting between my breasts.
14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
from the vineyards of En Gedi.
He
15How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.
She
16How handsome you are, my beloved!
Oh, how charming!
And our bed is verdant.
He
17The beams of our house are cedars;
our rafters are firs.
She[4]
1I am a rose[5] of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
He
2Like a lily among thorns
is my darling among the young women.
She
3Like an apple[6] tree among the trees of the forest
is my beloved among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4Let him lead me to the banquet hall,
and let his banner over me be love.
5Strengthen me with raisins,
refresh me with apples,
for I am faint with love.
6His left arm is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.
7Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.
8Listen! My beloved!
Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10My beloved spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
11See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”
He
14My dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
15Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.
She
16My beloved is mine and I am his;
he browses among the lilies.
17Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag
on the rugged hills.[7]
Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. What does that mean? It means letting love develop naturally. It means not forcing it, not manipulating circumstances to speed things up. It means waiting for love and commitment to grow together. That is so hard for us gals to do! We tend to scheme and plot and finagle to get a guy to like us. We work hard to get noticed. But that’s not God’s way. Doing it his way means concentrating on being a friend, without expectations, and waiting on God to see what he brings about naturally.
1All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him but did not find him.
2I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but did not find him.
3The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
4Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
till I had brought him to my mother’s house,
to the room of the one who conceived me.
5Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
Love is like fire—once it’s started, it’s hard to put out. If you don’t feel ready for a lifelong commitment, why play with fire? You will get badly burned.
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by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.
6Who is this coming up from the wilderness
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and incense
made from all the spices of the merchant?
7Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,
escorted by sixty warriors,
the noblest of Israel,
8all of them wearing the sword,
all experienced in battle,
each with his sword at his side,
prepared for the terrors of the night.
9King Solomon made for himself the carriage;
he made it of wood from Lebanon.
10Its posts he made of silver,
its base of gold.
Its seat was upholstered with purple,
its interior inlaid with love.
Daughters of Jerusalem, 11come out,
and look, you daughters of Zion.
Look[8] on King Solomon wearing a crown,
the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
the day his heart rejoiced.
He
1How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from the hills of Gilead.
2Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
not one of them is alone.
3Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
your mouth is lovely.
Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
4Your neck is like the tower of David,
built with courses of stone[9];
on it hang a thousand shields,
all of them shields of warriors.
5Your breasts are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle
that browse among the lilies.
6Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,
I will go to the mountain of myrrh
and to the hill of incense.
7You are altogether beautiful, my darling;
there is no flaw in you.
8Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
come with me from Lebanon.
Descend from the crest of Amana,
from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon,
from the lions’ dens
and the mountain haunts of leopards.
9You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
10How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume
more than any spice!
11Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
milk and honey are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments
is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride;
Sex isn’t a ticket to win love. That never works! God intended your virginity to be an amazing gift to your husband, a guy already committed to you for life.
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you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.
13Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
with choice fruits,
with henna and nard,
14nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,
with every kind of incense tree,
with myrrh and aloes
and all the finest spices.
15You are[10] a garden fountain,
a well of flowing water
streaming down from Lebanon.
She
16Awake, north wind,
and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,
that its fragrance may spread everywhere.
Let my beloved come into his garden
and taste its choice fruits.
Wow! This guy is majorly in love—deep, passionate, lasting, head-over-heels, till-death-do-us-part love. You can see that he absolutely adores his bride. And isn’t that what every girl dreams of? Now, if you look closely at the things he praises her for, you’ll see that her virginity is one of them. He calls her a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain—and he loves that about her! While some people may put you down for wanting to stay a virgin until marriage, the right guy—the one who really counts—will love that about you.
Beautiful one,
You are beautiful and flawless in my eyes. Do you believe that? Oh, there may be days when you look in the mirror and see nothing but flaws. But I only see you as beautiful, created in my image. You are beautiful. Believe it!
—Your Creator
Describe what you see in the mirror. Now describe what God sees when he looks at you.
He
1I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Friends
Eat, friends, and drink;
drink your fill of love.
She
2I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My beloved is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night.”
3I have taken off my robe—
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
must I soil them again?
4My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.
5I arose to open for my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
6I opened for my beloved,
but my beloved had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure.[11]
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.
7The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
they took away my cloak,
those watchmen of the walls!
8Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you—
if you find my beloved,
what will you tell him?
Tell him I am faint with love.
Friends
9How is your beloved better than others,
most beautiful of women?
How is your beloved better than others,
that you so charge us?
She
10My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
outstanding among ten thousand.
11His head is purest gold;
his hair is wavy
and black as a raven.
12His eyes are like doves
by the water streams,
washed in milk,
mounted like jewels.
13His cheeks are like beds of spice
yielding perfume.
His lips are like lilies
dripping with myrrh.
14His arms are rods of gold
set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
decorated with lapis lazuli.
15His legs are pillars of marble
set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as its cedars.
16His mouth is sweetness itself;
he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, this is my friend,
daughters of Jerusalem.
Friends
1Where has your beloved gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way did your beloved turn,
that we may look for him with you?
She
2My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
he browses among the lilies.
He
4You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
as lovely as Jerusalem,
as majestic as troops with banners.
5Turn your eyes from me;
they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Gilead.
6Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
not one of them is missing.
7Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
8Sixty queens there may be,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number;
9but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
the only daughter of her mother,
the favorite of the one who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines praised her.
Friends
10Who is this that appears like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
majestic as the stars in procession?
He
11I went down to the grove of nut trees
to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see if the vines had budded
or the pomegranates were in bloom.
12Before I realized it,
my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.[12]
Friends
13Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!
He
Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
as on the dance of Mahanaim?[13]
1How beautiful your sandaled feet,
O prince’s daughter!
Your graceful legs are like jewels,
the work of an artist’s hands.
2Your navel is a rounded goblet
that never lacks blended wine.
Your waist is a mound of wheat
encircled by lilies.
3Your breasts are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle.
4Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon
by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
looking toward Damascus.
5Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.
Your hair is like royal tapestry;
the king is held captive by its tresses.
6How beautiful you are and how pleasing,
my love, with your delights!
7Your stature is like that of the palm,
and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
8I said, “I will climb the palm tree;
I will take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apples,
9and your mouth like the best wine.
She
May the wine go straight to my beloved,
flowing gently over lips and teeth.[15]
10I belong to my beloved,
and his desire is for me.
11Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
let us spend the night in the villages.[16]
12Let us go early to the vineyards
to see if the vines have budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
and if the pomegranates are in bloom—
there I will give you my love.
13The mandrakes send out their fragrance,
and at our door is every delicacy,
both new and old,
that I have stored up for you, my beloved.
1If only you were to me like a brother,
who was nursed at my mother’s breasts!
Then, if I found you outside,
I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me.
2I would lead you
and bring you to my mother’s house—
she who has taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the nectar of my pomegranates.
3His left arm is under my head
and his right arm embraces me.
4Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.
Friends
5Who is this coming up from the wilderness
leaning on her beloved?
She
Under the apple tree I roused you;
there your mother conceived you,
there she who was in labor gave you birth.
6Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy[17] unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.[18]
7Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it[19] would be utterly scorned.
Friends
8We have a little sister,
and her breasts are not yet grown.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?
9If she is a wall,
we will build towers of silver on her.
If she is a door,
we will enclose her with panels of cedar.
She
10I am a wall,
and my breasts are like towers.
Thus I have become in his eyes
like one bringing contentment.
11Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon;
he let out his vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for its fruit
a thousand shekels[20] of silver.
12But my own vineyard is mine to give;
the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
and two hundred[21] are for those who tend its fruit.
He
13You who dwell in the gardens
with friends in attendance,
let me hear your voice!
She
14Come away, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag
on the spice-laden mountains.
We tend to throw the word “love” around a lot. I love chocolate. I love your new jeans. I’d love to hang out. We use it so often we tend to forget what it really means. Solomon says that real love is so strong it can’t be killed. It’s like a fire that can’t be quenched. And it can’t be bought, for it is priceless. Have you ever wondered if you were “in love” with a guy? Because true love lasts forever, it will stand the test of time. Don’t confuse love with something else.
Profile: Taranda
I’m still a virgin. My friends keep nagging me, asking me when I’m going to “get rid of it.” I don’t know why it’s so important to them that I lose my virginity.
All of them have had sex. The funny thing is, none of them act like it was that great, even though they say it was. Sometimes they make me feel like a prude because I’m still a virgin. Some think I’m crazy to hang on to it. Others, like my friend Desiree, treat me like a little kid because I won’t have sex before I’m married. She keeps telling me, “Girl, how do you expect to keep a guy if you won’t do it?”
My friend Raven asked me, “Where in the Bible does it say you can’t have sex?” When I couldn’t just quote a verse off the top of my head, she said, “It’s okay if two people are in love and committed to each other like you and Andre.”
Andre is my boyfriend. I really like him—actually, I think I even love him. But I don’t know if he’s the man I’ll wind up marrying. I mean, I just want to graduate right now and get into college.
Two years ago, Mama wanted me to promise that I wouldn’t have sex till I got married. She bought me a promise ring and everything. It’s beautiful. Sometimes I wonder if I made that promise just because I was afraid to make her sad or because I really wanted to.
virginity in focus
Your virginity is a precious gift God gave you to hand to your husband someday. Keep in mind …
» God has not changed his mind about premarital sex just because it seems “acceptable” today. The answer has been and always will be the same: no.
» Any guy who demands sex in order to be “kept” in a relationship isn’t worth keeping.
» Ask yourself: What’re your friends’ motives for encouraging you to have sex? Is it for your good—or to make them feel better?
» What do you give up when you have sex? More than just your virginity. Your self-respect. Your peace of mind. Your obedience to God. And the incredible experience of having sex with your husband free of guilt, free of baggage, full of love, trust and joy. If you have sex now, you’ll never have sex like that (see Genesis 2:24).
For more on this topic, see the index found here.