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Young Woman

One night as I lay in bed, I yearned for my lover.
    I yearned for him, but he did not come.
So I said to myself, “I will get up and roam the city,
    searching in all its streets and squares.
I will search for the one I love.”
    So I searched everywhere but did not find him.
The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds,
    and I asked, “Have you seen the one I love?”
Then scarcely had I left them
    when I found my love!
I caught and held him tightly,
    then I brought him to my mother’s house,
    into my mother’s bed, where I had been conceived.

Promise me, O women of Jerusalem,
    by the gazelles and wild deer,
    not to awaken love until the time is right.[a]

Young Women of Jerusalem

Who is this sweeping in from the wilderness
    like a cloud of smoke?
Who is it, fragrant with myrrh and frankincense
    and every kind of spice?
Look, it is Solomon’s carriage,
    surrounded by sixty heroic men,
    the best of Israel’s soldiers.
They are all skilled swordsmen,
    experienced warriors.
Each wears a sword on his thigh,
    ready to defend the king against an attack in the night.
King Solomon’s carriage is built
    of wood imported from Lebanon.
10 Its posts are silver,
    its canopy gold;
    its cushions are purple.
It was decorated with love
    by the young women of Jerusalem.

Young Woman

11 Come out to see King Solomon,
    young women of Jerusalem.[b]
He wears the crown his mother gave him on his wedding day,
    his most joyous day.

Footnotes

  1. 3:5 Or not to awaken love until it is ready.
  2. 3:11 Hebrew of Zion.

The Bride’s Troubled Dream

[a]On my bed night after night I sought him
(A)Whom my soul loves;
I (B)sought him but did not find him.
[b]I must arise now and [c]go about the city;
In the (C)streets and in the squares
[d]I must seek him whom my soul loves.’
I sought him but did not find him.
(D)The watchmen who go about the city found me,
And I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’
(E)Scarcely had I passed them by
When I found him whom my soul loves;
I (F)seized him and would not let him go
Until I had (G)brought him to my mother’s house,
And into the chamber of her who conceived me.”

[e]I (H)call you to solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the (I)gazelles or by the hinds of the field,
That you do not arouse or awaken my love
Until [f]she pleases.”

Solomon Arrives on His Wedding Day

[g](J)Who is this coming up from the wilderness
Like (K)columns of smoke,
As rising incense of (L)myrrh and (M)frankincense,
With all scented powders of the merchant?
Behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon;
Sixty mighty men around it,
Of the mighty men of Israel.
All of them are those who seize the sword,
(N)Learned in war;
Each man has his (O)sword at his side,
Guarding against the [h](P)dreadful things of the night.
King Solomon has made for himself a sedan chair
From the timber of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver,
Its [i]back of gold
And its seat of purple fabric,
With its interior inlaid with love
By the (Q)daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go forth and see, O (R)daughters of Zion,
King Solomon with the [j]crown
With which his mother has crowned him
On the (S)day of his wedding,
And on the day of his gladness of heart.”

Footnotes

  1. Song of Songs 3:1 BRIDE
  2. Song of Songs 3:2 Or Let me arise
  3. Song of Songs 3:2 Or Let me go about
  4. Song of Songs 3:2 Or Let me seek
  5. Song of Songs 3:5 BRIDEGROOM
  6. Song of Songs 3:5 Or it
  7. Song of Songs 3:6 CHORUS
  8. Song of Songs 3:8 Lit dreadful thing
  9. Song of Songs 3:10 Or support
  10. Song of Songs 3:11 Or wreath