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.”
2 “I was asleep, but my heart was awake.
A voice! My beloved was knocking:
‘Open to me, amy sister, my darling,
bMy dove, my perfect one!
For my head is full of dew,
My clocks with the damp of the night.’
3 I have ataken off my long‑sleeved garment,
How can I put it on again?
I have bwashed my feet,
How can I dirty them again?
4 My beloved sent forth his hand through the opening,
And my afeelings moaned for him.
5 I arose to open to my beloved;
And my hands adripped with myrrh,
And my fingers with liquid myrrh,
On the handles of the lock.
6 I opened to my beloved,
But my beloved had aturned away and passed by!
My soul went out to him as he bspoke.
I csearched for him, but I did not find him;
I dcalled him, but he did not answer me.
7 The awatchmen who go about in the city found me,
They struck me and wounded me;
The guardsmen of the walls took away my shawl from me.
8 I acall you to solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
What will you tell him?
Tell him that bI am sick with love.”
9 “What is your beloved that he is more than any other beloved,
O amost beautiful among women?
What is your beloved that he is more than any other beloved,
That thus you call us to solemnly swear?”
The Bride Extols Her Beloved
10 “My beloved is dazzling and aruddy,
bLifted up as a banner among ten thousand.
11 His head is like gold, fine gold;
His alocks are like clusters of dates
And black as a raven.
12 His aeyes are like doves
Beside streams of water,
Washed in milk,
And sitting in their bsetting.
13 His cheeks are like a abed of spices,
Towers of sweet‑scented herbs;
His lips are blilies
cDripping with liquid myrrh.
14 His hands are rods of gold
Set with aberyl;
His abdomen is a plate of ivory
Inlaid with bsapphires.
15 His legs are pillars of marble
Set on bases of fine gold;
His appearance is like aLebanon
Choice as the bcedars.
16 His amouth is full of sweetness.
And he is wholly bdesirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.”