Love is Stronger Than Death; It is Better Than Wine

Your Love is Better than Wine

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
    For your love is better than wine. ...

Ah, you are beautiful, my love;
    ah, you are beautiful;
    your eyes are doves.
Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,
    truly lovely.
Our couch is green;
the beams of our house are cedar,
    our rafters are pine. ...

Arise, My Love, My Fair One

My beloved speaks and says to me:
    "Arise, my love, my fair one,
    and come away;
for now the winter is past,
    the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
    the time of singing has come,
    and the voice of the turtledove
    is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
    and the vines are in blossom;
    they give forth fragrance.
    Arise, my love, my fair one,
    and come away. ...

How Beautiful You Are

How beautiful you are, my love,
    how very beautiful!
    Your eyes are doves
    behind your veil.
    Your hair is like a flock of goats,
    moving down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
    that have come up from the washing,
    all of which bear twins,
    and not one among them is bereaved.
Your lips are like a crimson thread,
    and your mouth is lovely.
    Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
Your neck is like the tower of David,
    built in courses;
    on it hang a thousand bucklers,
    all of them shields of warriors.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle,
    that feed among the lilies.
Until the day breathes
    and the shadows flee,
    I will hasten to the mountain of myrrh
    and the hill of frankincense.
You are altogether beautiful, my love;
    there is no flaw in you. ...

Love is Stronger Than Death

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as a seal upon your arm;
    for love is stronger than death,
    passion fiercer than the grave.
    Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
    neither can floods drown it.
    If one offered for love
    all the wealth of one's house,
    it would be utterly scorned.

For the entire text of the Song of Songs

More readings about love: 1) From the Bible or 2) From sources outside the Bible

NRSV
Copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.