Listen! My beloved!
    Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
    bounding over the hills.(A)
My beloved is like a gazelle(B) or a young stag.(C)
    Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
    peering through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
    the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;(D)
    the blossoming(E) vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
    my beautiful one, come with me.”

He

14 My dove(F) in the clefts of the rock,
    in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
    let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
    and your face is lovely.(G)
15 Catch for us the foxes,(H)
    the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,(I)
    our vineyards that are in bloom.(J)

She

16 My beloved is mine and I am his;(K)
    he browses among the lilies.(L)
17 Until the day breaks
    and the shadows flee,(M)
turn, my beloved,(N)
    and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag(O)
    on the rugged hills.[a](P)

All night long on my bed
    I looked(Q) for the one my heart loves;
    I looked for him but did not find him.
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.
The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.(R)
    “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
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,(S)
    to the room of the one who conceived me.(T)
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you(U)
    by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.(V)

Who is this coming up from the wilderness(W)
    like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh(X) and incense
    made from all the spices(Y) of the merchant?
Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,
    escorted by sixty warriors,(Z)
    the noblest of Israel,
all of them wearing the sword,
    all experienced in battle,
each with his sword at his side,
    prepared for the terrors of the night.(AA)
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.(AB)
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.(AC)

Footnotes

  1. Song of Songs 2:17 Or the hills of Bether
  2. Song of Songs 3:11 Or interior lovingly inlaid / by the daughters of Jerusalem. / 11 Come out, you daughters of Zion, / and look

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