1   On my bed in the night,

    I sought him whom my heart loves.

  I sought him, but I did not find him.

2   Now I will arise, and I will go about in the city,

    in the streets and in the squares;

  I will seek him whom my heart loves.

    I sought him, but I did not find him.

3   The sentinels who go about in the city found me.

    “Have you seen the one whom my heart loves?”

4   Scarcely had I passed by them

    when I found him whom my heart loves.

  I held him and I would not let him go

    until I brought him to the house of my mother,

      into the bedroom chamber of she who conceived me.

 

5   I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,

    by the gazelles or by the does of the field,

  do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!

 

6   What is this coming up from the desert

    like a column of smoke,

  perfumed with myrrh and frankincense

    from all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

7   Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch!

    Sixty mighty men surround it,

      the mighty men of Israel.

8   All of them wield swords;

    they are trained in warfare,

  each with his sword at his thigh

    to guard against terror in the night.

9   King Solomon made for himself a sedan chair

    from the wood of Lebanon.

10   He made its column of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple;

    its interior is inlaid with leather by the maidens of Jerusalem.

11   Come out and look, O maidens of Zion, at King Solomon,

    at the crown with which his mother crowned him

  on the day of his wedding,

    on the day of the joy of his heart!