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Royal Wedding Procession

What is this coming up from the desert
    like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense
    from all the fragrant powders of the merchant?
Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch![a]
    Sixty mighty men surround it,[b]
        the mighty men of Israel.
All of them wield swords;[c]
    they are trained in warfare,[d]
each with his sword at his thigh
    to guard against terror[e] in the night.
King Solomon[f] made for himself a sedan chair
    from the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its column of silver, its back[g] of gold, its seat of purple;
    its interior is inlaid with leather[h] by the maidens of Jerusalem.[i]
11 Come out and look, O maidens of Zion,[j] at King Solomon,[k]
    at the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
    on the day of the joy of his heart!

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Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 3:7 Literally “couch” or “portable sedan chair”
  2. Song of Solomon 3:7 Literally “her”
  3. Song of Solomon 3:8 Literally “holders of sword”
  4. Song of Solomon 3:8 Literally “learnt of war”
  5. Song of Solomon 3:8 Literally “because of the fear”
  6. Song of Solomon 3:9 Literally “The king, Solomon”
  7. Song of Solomon 3:10 Or “its support,” “its base,” “its headrest,” “its litter,” “its cover”
  8. Song of Solomon 3:10 Or “love.” The Hebrew term here translated “leather” is spelled the same as the term for “love.” Most likely this is an example of a word play that puns on the intentional ambiguity: “Its interior was inlaid with leather//love by the maidens of Jerusalem”
  9. Song of Solomon 3:10 Literally “by the daughters of Jerusalem”
  10. Song of Solomon 3:11 Literally “O daughters of Zion”
  11. Song of Solomon 3:11 Literally “the king, Solomon”

Solomon Arrives for the Wedding

(A)What is that coming up from the wilderness
    like (B)columns of smoke,
perfumed with (C)myrrh and frankincense,
    with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
Behold, it is the litter[a] of Solomon!
Around it are (D)sixty (E)mighty men,
    some of the mighty men of Israel,
all of them wearing swords
    and expert in war,
each with his (F)sword at his thigh,
    against (G)terror by night.
King Solomon made himself a carriage[b]
    from the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver,
    its back of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love
    by (H)the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, O (I)daughters of Zion,
    and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
    on (J)the day of his wedding,
    on the day of the gladness of his heart.

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Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 3:7 That is, the couch on which servants carry a king
  2. Song of Solomon 3:9 Or sedan chair