Song of Songs 3:1-5:16

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 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 Or interior lovingly inlaid / by the daughters of Jerusalem. / 11 Come out, you daughters of Zion, / and look 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.

1He How 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 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. ; 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; 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 Or I am (spoken by She) 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.

1He I 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. Or heart had gone out to him when he spoke 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.