Song of Songs 2:16-3:11

New International Version

3 All night long on my bed
    I looked^(G) for the one my heart loves;
    I looked for him but did not find him.
² I will get up now and go about the city,
    through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
    So I looked for him but did not find him.
³ The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.^(H)
    “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
⁴ Scarcely had I passed them
    when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
    till I had brought him to my mother’s house,^(I)
    to the room of the one who conceived me.^(J)
5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you^(K)
    by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.^(L)

⁶ Who is this coming up from the wilderness^(M)
    like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh^(N) and incense
    made from all the spices^(O) of the merchant?
⁷ Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,
    escorted by sixty warriors,^(P)
    the noblest of Israel,
⁸ all of them wearing the sword,
    all experienced in battle,
each with his sword at his side,
    prepared for the terrors of the night.^(Q)
9 King Solomon made for himself the carriage;
    he made it of wood from Lebanon.
¹⁰ Its posts he made of silver,
    its base of gold.
Its seat was upholstered with purple,
    its interior inlaid with love.
Daughters of Jerusalem, ¹¹ come out,
    and look, you daughters of Zion.^(R)
Look^[b] on King Solomon wearing a crown,
    the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
    the day his heart rejoiced.^(S)