Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo

Song of Songs 1

The opening song celebrates mutual desire and admiration while revealing the woman’s hard labor and concern about others’ gaze.

A woman longs for her beloved’s kisses and asks him to take her away with him. Voices of friends join the exchange, though some speaker divisions remain uncertain. She addresses the daughters of Jerusalem about her sun-darkened skin and the vineyard work her brothers imposed on her, then asks where her beloved tends his flock. The lovers exchange praise through images of fragrance, jewels, and plants. The opening title connects the song with Solomon without explaining his precise role.

dating or engagementmarriage strainsermon or Bible study notes
Read
2Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine.
3Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you.
4Take 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.
5I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains.
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.
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.
14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.
15Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves.
17The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Song of Songs 1:7Her request to find her beloved among the flocks brings the poem’s longing into a concrete search for his presence.
Song of Songs 1:4The desire to go away together expands into shared rejoicing, with friends adding their praise of the lovers’ affection.
Song of Songs 1:3Fragrant oil becomes an image for the beloved’s name, linking his appeal with the esteem he receives from others.
Where this chapter reaches

Psalm and John share the chapter’s imagery of a shepherd and flock; Psalm also links shepherding with rest, while here the woman seeks her beloved at noon. Ezekiel shares the imagery of a woman adorned with jewelry within a portrayal of love.

Song of Songs 1's chapter linksAll strongest linksHover or tap a book
Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about the woman’s own description of herself alongside the praise she receives?

Write on this

How does the woman’s account of vineyard work affect your reading of the surrounding love poetry?

Write on this

Questions people ask about Song of Songs 1

Did Solomon write Song of Songs 1?

The opening verse associates the song with Solomon, and the chapter also mentions a king and Solomon’s curtains. The title has been understood as indicating authorship, dedication, or association. This chapter alone does not settle Solomon’s precise role or establish that every male voice belongs to him.

Why does the woman say she is dark in Song of Songs 1?

She explains that the sun has scorched her while she worked in vineyards under pressure from her angry brothers. She asks the daughters of Jerusalem not to stare at her and also affirms her beauty. The passage connects her appearance with outdoor labor; it does not identify dark skin with sin.

Is Song of Songs 1 about Christ and the church?

Christians have long read the lovers’ affection as a picture of Christ’s love for the church. The chapter itself presents human lovers speaking through physical and pastoral imagery; it does not name Christ or the church. Such a theological reading should preserve the poem’s own portrayal of human love.

Read it. Now write it.

Start an entry on Song of Songs 1. Your words go beside the text, and you get one next step for the week.

Song of Songs · 8 chapters
12345678
What the Bible says about marriage →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).