Solomon Arrives on His Wedding Day
6 “aWho is this coming up from the wilderness
Like bcolumns of smoke,
As rising incense of cmyrrh and dfrankincense,
With all scented powders of the merchant?
7 Behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon;
Sixty mighty men around it,
Of the mighty men of Israel.
8 All of them are those who seize the sword,
aLearned in war;
Each man has his bsword at his side,
Guarding against the cdreadful things of the night.
9 King Solomon has made for himself a sedan chair
From the timber of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver,
Its back of gold
And its seat of purple fabric,
With its interior inlaid with love
By the adaughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go forth and see, O adaughters of Zion,
King Solomon with the crown
With which his mother has crowned him
On the bday of his wedding,
And on the day of his gladness of heart.”
Solomon Praises the Beauty of His Bride
“Behold, you are beautiful, amy darling,
Behold, you are beautiful!
Your beyes are like doves cbehind your veil;
Your dhair is like a flock of goats
That have leapt down from Mount eGilead.
2 Your ateeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes
Which have come up from their washing,
All of which bear twins,
And not one among them has lost her young.
3 Your lips are like a ascarlet thread,
And your bmouth is lovely.
Your ctemples are like a slice of a pomegranate
Behind your veil.
4 Your aneck is like the tower of David,
Built with rows of stones
On which are bhung one thousand shields,
All the small cshields of the mighty men.
5 Your atwo breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle
Which bfeed among the lilies.
6 aUntil the day breathes
And the shadows flee,
I will go my way to the mountain of bmyrrh
And to the hill of bfrankincense.
7 “aYou are altogether beautiful, my darling,
And there is no blemish in you.
8 Come with me from aLebanon, my bbride,
May you come with me from Lebanon.
Journey down from the top of cAmana,
From the top of dSenir and Hermon,
From the dens of lions,
From the mountains of leopards.
9 You have made my heart beat faster, amy sister, my bride;
You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes,
With a single strand of your bnecklace.
10 aHow beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much bbetter is your love than wine,
And the cfragrance of your oils
Than all kinds of spices!
11 Your lips, my bride, adrip bhoney from the comb;
Honey and milk are under your tongue,
And the fragrance of your garments is like the cfragrance of Lebanon.
12 A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
A rock garden locked, a aspring bsealed up.
13 Your shoots are an aorchard of bpomegranates
With cchoice fruits, dhenna with nard plants,
14 aNard and saffron, calamus and bcinnamon,
With all the trees of cfrankincense,
dMyrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.
15 You are a garden spring,
A well of afresh water,
And streams flowing from Lebanon.”
16 “Awake, O north wind,
And come, wind of the south;
Make my agarden breathe out fragrance,
Let its spices flow forth.
May bmy beloved come into his garden
And eat its cchoice fruits!”
The Bride Searches for Her Beloved
“I have acome into my garden, bmy sister, my bride;
I have picked my cmyrrh along with my balsam.
I have eaten my honeycomb with my dhoney;
I have edrunk my wine with my milk.
Eat, ffriends;
Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.”