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

N Eat, friends!
Drink, be intoxicated with love!^[b](A)

² W I sleep, but my heart is awake.
A sound! My love is knocking!^(B)

M Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my perfect one.
For my head is drenched with dew,
my hair with droplets of the night.

³ W I have taken off my clothing.^(C)
How can I put it back on?
I have washed my feet.
How can I get them dirty?
⁴ My love thrust his hand through the opening,
and my feelings were stirred for him.
⁵ I rose to open for my love.
My hands dripped with myrrh,^(D)
my fingers with flowing myrrh
on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened to my love,
but my love had turned and gone away.
I was crushed^[c] that he had left.^[d]
I sought him, but did not find him.^(E)
I called him, but he did not answer.
⁷ The guards who go about the city found me.^(F)
They beat and wounded me;
they took my cloak^[e] from me—
the guardians of the walls.^(G)
8 Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:^(H)
if you find my love,
tell him that I am lovesick.^(I)

⁹ Y What makes the one you love better than another,
most beautiful of women?^(J)
What makes him better than another,
that you would give us this charge?

¹⁰ W My love is fit and strong,^[f](K)
notable among ten thousand.^(L)
11 His head is purest gold.
His hair is wavy^[g](M)
and black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves^(N)
beside streams of water,
washed in milk
and set like jewels.^[h]
13 His cheeks^(O) are like beds of spice,
towers of^[i] perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.^(P)
14 His arms^[j] are rods of gold
set^[k] with topaz.^[l](Q)
His body^[m] is an ivory panel
covered with sapphires.^(R)
15 His legs are alabaster pillars
set on pedestals of pure gold.
His presence is like Lebanon,^(S)
as majestic as the cedars.^(T)
16 His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.^(U)
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.