3 “^[a]On my bed night after night I sought him
Whom my soul loves;
I sought him but did not find him.
² ‘^[b]I must arise now and ^[c]go about the city;
In the streets and in the squares
^[d]I must seek him whom my soul loves.’
I sought him but did not find him.
³ “The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me,
And I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’
⁴ “Scarcely had I ^[e]left 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 conceived me.”

⁶ “^[h][i]What is this coming up from the wilderness
Like columns of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all scented powders of the merchant?
⁷ “Behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon;
Sixty mighty men around it,
Of the mighty men of Israel.
⁸ “All of them are wielders of the sword,
Expert in war;
Each man has his sword at his side,
Guarding against the ^[j]terrors of the night.
⁹ “King Solomon has made for himself a sedan chair
From the timber of Lebanon.
¹⁰ “He made its posts of silver,
Its ^[k]back of gold
And its seat of purple fabric,
With its interior lovingly fitted out
By the daughters of Jerusalem.
¹¹ “Go forth, O daughters of Zion,
And gaze on King Solomon with the ^[l]crown
With which his mother has crowned him
On the day of his wedding,
And on the day of his gladness of heart.”