5 I ^(A)came to my garden, my ^(B)sister, my bride,
    I gathered my ^(C)myrrh with my spice,
    I ate my ^(D)honeycomb with my honey,
    I ^(E)drank my wine with my milk.

Eat, ^(F)friends, drink,
    and be drunk with love!

² I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is ^(G)knocking.
“Open to me, my ^(H)sister, my ^(I)love,
    my ^(J)dove, my ^(K)perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
    my ^(L)locks with the drops of the night.”
^3 (M)I had put off my garment;
    how could I put it on?
I had ^(N)bathed my feet;
    how could I soil them?
⁴ My beloved put his hand to the latch,
    and my heart was thrilled within me.
⁵ I arose to open to my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with ^(O)liquid myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened to my beloved,
    but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he ^(P)spoke.
^(Q)I sought him, but found him not;
    ^(R)I called him, but he gave no answer.
^7 (S)The watchmen found me
    as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
    they took away my veil,
    those watchmen of the walls.
⁸ I ^(T)adjure you, O ^(U)daughters of Jerusalem,
    if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
    ^(V)I am sick with love.

⁹ What is your beloved more than another beloved,
    O ^(W)most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
    that you thus ^(X)adjure us?

¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ^(Y)ruddy,
    ^(Z)distinguished among ten thousand.
¹¹ His head is the finest gold;
    ^(AA)his locks are wavy,
    black as a raven.
¹² His ^(AB)eyes are like doves
    beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
    sitting beside a full pool.^[a]
13 His ^(AC)cheeks are like ^(AD)beds of spices,
    mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are ^(AE)lilies,
    dripping ^(AF)liquid myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold,
    set with ^(AG)jewels.
His body is polished ivory,^[b]
    bedecked with ^(AH)sapphires.^[c]
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
    set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like ^(AI)Lebanon,
    choice as the cedars.
¹⁶ His ^(AJ)mouth^[d] is most sweet,
    and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
    O ^(AK)daughters of Jerusalem.

6 Where has your beloved gone,
    O ^(AL)most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
    that we may seek him with you?

² My beloved has gone down to his ^(AM)garden
    to ^(AN)the beds of spices,
to ^(AO)graze^[e] in the gardens
    and to gather ^(AP)lilies.
^3 (AQ)I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
    he grazes among the lilies.

⁴ You are beautiful as ^(AR)Tirzah, ^(AS)my love,
    ^(AT)lovely as ^(AU)Jerusalem,
    ^(AV)awesome as an army with banners.
⁵ Turn away your eyes from me,
    for they overwhelm me—
^(AW)Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
^6 (AX)Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
    that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
    not one among them has lost its young.
^7 (AY)Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
⁸ There are ^(AZ)sixty ^(BA)queens and eighty ^(BB)concubines,
    and ^(BC)virgins without number.
⁹ My ^(BD)dove, my ^(BE)perfect one, is the only one,
    the only one of her mother,
    pure to ^(BF)her who bore her.
^(BG)The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    ^(BH)the queens and ^(BI)concubines also, and they praised her.

¹¹ I went down to the nut orchard
    to look at ^(BL)the blossoms of the valley,
^(BM)to see whether the vines had budded,
    whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
^12 (BN)Before I was aware, my desire set me
    among ^(BO)the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.^[f]

^13 [g] Return, return, O ^(BP)Shulammite,
    return, return, that we may look upon you.

Why should you look upon ^(BQ)the Shulammite,
    as upon ^(BR)a dance before ^(BS)two armies?^[h]

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
    gliding over lips and teeth.^[k]

^11 (CL)Come, my beloved,
    let us go out into the fields
    and lodge in the villages;^[l]
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
    ^(CM)and see whether the vines have budded,
whether ^(CN)the grape blossoms have opened
    and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
^13 (CO)The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
    and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
^(CP)new as well as old,
    which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

8 Oh that you were like a brother to me
    who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
    and none would despise me.
² I would lead you and ^(CQ)bring you
    into the house of my mother—
    she who used to teach me.
I would give you ^(CR)spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranate.
^3 (CS)His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
⁴ I ^(CT)adjure you, O ^(CU)daughters of Jerusalem,
    ^(CV)that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

⁸ We have a little sister,
    and she ^(DC)has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
    on the day when she is spoken for?
⁹ If she is a wall,
    we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
    we will enclose her with ^(DD)boards of cedar.

^10 (DE)I was a wall,
    and my ^(DF)breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
    as one who finds^[p] peace.

^13 (DL)O you who dwell in the gardens,
    with ^(DM)companions listening for your voice;
    ^(DN)let me hear it.

^14 (DO)Make haste, my beloved,
    and be ^(DP)like a gazelle
or a young stag
    on ^(DQ)the mountains of spices.