1 S ur ma couche, pendant les nuits, J'ai cherché celui que mon coeur aime; Je l'ai cherché, et je ne l'ai point trouvé...

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

2 J e me lèverai, et je ferai le tour de la ville, Dans les rues et sur les places; Je chercherai celui que mon coeur aime... Je l'ai cherché, et je ne l'ai point trouvé.

‘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 L es gardes qui font la ronde dans la ville m'ont rencontrée: Avez-vous vu celui que mon coeur aime?

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

4 A peine les avais-je passés, Que j'ai trouvé celui que mon coeur aime; Je l'ai saisi, et je ne l'ai point lâché Jusqu'à ce que je l'aie amené dans la maison de ma mère, Dans la chambre de celle qui m'a conçue. -

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 J e vous en conjure, filles de Jérusalem, Par les gazelles et les biches des champs, Ne réveillez pas, ne réveillez pas l'amour, Avant qu'elle le veuille. -

“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 Q ui est celle qui monte du désert, Comme des colonnes de fumée, Au milieu des vapeurs de myrrhe et d'encens Et de tous les aromates des marchands? -

“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 V oici la litière de Salomon, Et autour d'elle soixante vaillants hommes, Des plus vaillants d'Israël.

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

8 T ous sont armés de l'épée, Sont exercés au combat; Chacun porte l'épée sur sa hanche, En vue des alarmes nocturnes.

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 L e roi Salomon s'est fait une litière De bois du Liban.

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

10 I l en a fait les colonnes d'argent, Le dossier d'or, Le siège de pourpre; Au milieu est une broderie, oeuvre d'amour Des filles de Jérusalem.

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 ortez, filles de Sion, regardez Le roi Salomon, Avec la couronne dont sa mère l'a couronné Le jour de ses fiançailles, Le jour de la joie de son coeur. -

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.”