12 My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden—
a locked garden[a] and a sealed spring.(A)
13 Your branches are a paradise[b] of pomegranates
with choicest fruits;(B)
henna with nard,
14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,(C)
with all the trees of frankincense,(D)
myrrh and aloes,(E)
with all the best spices.
15 You are a garden spring,
a well of flowing water(F)
streaming from Lebanon.

Woman

16 Awaken,(G) north wind;
come, south wind.
Blow on my garden,
and spread the fragrance of its spices.
Let my love come to his garden
and eat its choicest fruits.(H)

Man

I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.
I gather[c] my myrrh with my spices.
I eat my honeycomb with my honey.
I drink my wine with my milk.

Narrator

Eat, friends!
Drink, be intoxicated with caresses![d](I)

Footnotes

  1. 4:12 Some Hb mss read locked fountain
  2. 4:13 Or park, or orchard
  3. 5:1 Lit pluck
  4. 5:1 Or Drink your fill, lovers

12 A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

13 Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,

14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

16 Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.