Chapter 3

¹ By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he hearkened not to me. ² I will rise now, and go about in the city, in the market-places, and in the streets, and I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not. ³ The watchmen who go their rounds in the city found me. I said, Have ye seen him whom my soul loves? ⁴ It was as a little while after I parted from them, that I found him whom my soul loves: I held him, and did not let him go, until I brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

⁵ I have charged you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the ¹powers and by the virtues of the field, that ye rouse not nor awake my love, until he please.

⁶ Who is this that comes up from the wilderness as pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the perfumer? ⁷ Behold Solomon's bed; sixty mighty men of the mighty ones of Israel are round about it. ⁸ They all hold a sword, being expert in war: every man has his sword upon his thigh because of fear by night.

⁹ King Solomon made himself a litter of

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woods of Lebanon. ¹⁰ He made the pillars of it silver, the bottom of it gold, the covering of it scarlet, in the midst of it a pavement of love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. ¹¹ Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and behold king Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him, in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

Chapter 4

¹ Behold, thou art fair, my companion; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are doves, beside thy ²veil: thy hair is as flocks of goats, that have appeared from Galaad. ² Thy teeth are as flocks of shorn sheep, that have gone up from the washing; all of them bearing twins, and there is not a barren one among them. ³ Thy lips are as a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: like the rind of a pomegranate is thy cheek without thy ³veil. ⁴ Thy neck is as the tower of David, that was built for an armoury: a thousand shields hang upon it, and all darts of mighty men. ⁵ Thy two breasts are as two twin fawns, that feed among the lilies. ⁶ Until the day dawn, and the shadows depart, I will betake me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. ⁷ Thou art all fair, my companion, and there is no spot in thee.

⁸ Come from Libanus, my bride, come from Libanus: thou shalt come and pass from the top of ⁴Faith, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards. ⁹ My sister, my spouse, thou hast ravished my heart; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. ^{10 5}How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! how much more beautiful are thy breasts than wine, and the smell of thy garments than all spices! ¹¹ Thy lips drop honeycomb, my spouse: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is as the smell of Libanus. ¹² My sister, my spouse is a garden enclosed; a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed. ¹³ Thy shoots are a garden of pomegranates, with the fruit of choice berries; camphor, with spikenard: ¹⁴ spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon; with all woods of Libanus, myrrh, aloes, with all chief spices: ¹⁵ a fountain of a garden, and a well of water springing and gurgling from Libanus.

¹⁶ Awake, O north wind; and come, O south; and blow through my garden, and let my spices flow out.