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

¶ By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but I did not find him.

2 ‘ 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.

I will rise now and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but I did not find him.

3 T he men who watch over the city found me, and I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’

The watchmen that go about the city found me, to whom I said, Have ye seen him whom my soul loves?

4 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

It was but a little that I passed from them that I found him whom my soul loves: I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house and into the chamber of her that brought me into the light.

5 “ 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

I charge you, O ye virgins of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye not awake nor stir up love, until he pleases.

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

¶ Who is she that rises out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense and with all the aromatic powders?

7 S ee, it is the traveling wagon of Solomon. Sixty of the strong men of Israel are around it.

¶ Behold it is the bed of Solomon; sixty valiant men are about it of the valiant of Israel.

8 A ll 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.

They all hold swords, being expert in war; each one has his sword upon his thigh because of the fears of the night.

9 K ing Solomon has made for himself a beautiful wagon from the wood of Lebanon.

King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon.

10 H e 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.

He made its pillars of silver, the bottom of it of gold, the covering of it of purple, its interior being paved with love, for the virgins of Jerusalem.

11 G o 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.”

Go forth, O ye virgins of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.