1 P or las noches busqué en mi cama al que ama mi alma; lo busqué, y no lo hallé.

“On my bed night after night I looked for him whom my soul loves. I looked for him but did not find him.

2 M e levantaré ahora, y rodearé por la ciudad; por las calles y por las plazas buscaré al que ama mi alma; lo busqué, y no lo hallé.

‘I must get up now and go about the city, in the streets and in the open places. I must look for him whom my soul loves.’ I looked for him but did not find him.

3 M e hallaron los guardas que rondan la ciudad, y les dije: ¿Habéis visto al que ama mi alma?

The men who watch over the city found me, and I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’

4 P asando de ellos un poco, hallé luego al que mi alma ama; trabé de él, y no lo dejé, hasta que lo metí en la casa de mi madre, y en la cámara de la que me dio a luz.

I had just passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held on to him and would not let him go, until I had brought him to my mother’s house, and into the room of her who gave birth to me.” King Solomon

5 Y o os conjuro, oh doncellas de Jerusalén, por las gamas y por las ciervas del campo, que no despertéis ni hagáis velar al amor, hasta que él quiera.

“I tell you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the deer of the field, you must not wake up my love until it is pleasing to her.” The Third Song The Woman

6 ¿ Quién es ésta que sube del desierto como columnas de humo, sahumada de mirra y de incienso, y de todos los polvos aromáticos?

“What is this coming up from the desert like smoke? It has the smell of special perfumes, with all the perfumes of the traders.

7 H e aquí es la litera de Salomón; sesenta fuertes la rodean, de los fuertes de Israel.

See, it is the traveling wagon of Solomon. Sixty of the strong men of Israel are around it.

8 T odos ellos tienen espadas, diestros en la guerra; cada uno su espada sobre su muslo, por los temores de la noche.

All of them use the sword and are very able in war. Each man has his sword at his side, keeping watch against trouble in the night.

9 E l rey Salomón se hizo un tálamo de madera del Líbano.

King Solomon has made for himself a beautiful wagon from the wood of Lebanon.

10 S us columnas hizo de plata, su solado de oro, su cielo de grana, su interior enlosado de amor, por las doncellas de Jerusalén.

He made its long pieces of silver, its back of gold, and its seat of purple cloth. The inside of it was made beautiful by the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 S alid, oh doncellas de Sion, y ved al rey Salomón con la corona con que le coronó su madre el día de su desposorio, y el día del gozo de su corazón.

Go out, O daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon as he wears the crown his mother put on his head on the day of his wedding, on the day his heart was glad.”