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.”
Solomon and His Bride Extol Each Other
“aWhere has your beloved gone,
O bmost beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
That we may seek him with you?”
2 “My beloved has gone down to his agarden,
To the bbeds of spices,
To cshepherd his flock in the gardens
And gather dlilies.
3 aI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,
He who bshepherds his flock among the lilies.”
4 “aYou are as beautiful as bTirzah, my darling,
As clovely as dJerusalem,
As emajestic as an army with banners.
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
For they have overwhelmed me;
aYour hair is like a flock of goats
That have leapt down from Gilead.
6 aYour teeth are like a flock of ewes
Which have come up from their washing,
All of which bear twins,
And not one among them has lost her young.
7 aYour temples are like a slice of a pomegranate
Behind your veil.
8 There are sixty aqueens and eighty concubines,
And bmaidens without number;
9 She is the only one—amy dove, my perfect one;
She is the only one of her mother;
She is the pure one of her who bore her.
The bdaughters saw her and called her blessed,
The cqueens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,
10 ‘Who is this that looks down like the dawn,
As beautiful as the full amoon,
As pure bas the sun,
As cmajestic as an army with banners?’
11 I went down to the garden of nut trees
To see the blossoms of the valley,
To see whether athe vine had flourished
Or the bpomegranates had bloomed.
12 I did not know it, but my soul set me
Among the chariots of my noble people.”
13 “Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
Come back, come back, that we may behold you!”
“Why should you behold the Shulammite,
As at the adance of bthe two companies?
“How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O anoble’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like ornaments,
The work of the hands of an artist.
2 Your navel is like a round basin
Which never lacks mixed wine;
Your belly is like a heap of wheat
Encircled with lilies.
3 Your atwo breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
4 Your aneck is like a tower of ivory,
Your eyes like the pools in bHeshbon
By the gate of Bath‑rabbim;
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,
Which faces toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like aCarmel,
And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads;
The king is captivated by your tresses.
6 How abeautiful and how pleasant you are,
My love, with all your pleasures!
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
And your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree;
I will seize its fruit stalks.’
Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
And the fragrance of your breath like aapples,
9 And your amouth like the best wine!”
“It bgoes down smoothly for my beloved,
Flowing gently through the lips of those who fall asleep.
The Union of Love
10 “aI am my beloved’s,
And his bdesire is for me.
11 Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields,
Let us spend the night in the villages.
12 Let us rise early and go to the vineyards;
Let us asee whether the vine has flourished
And its blossoms have opened,
And whether the pomegranates have bloomed.
There I will give you my love.
13 The amandrakes have given forth fragrance;
And over our doors are all bchoice fruits,
Both new and old,
Which I have treasured up for you, my beloved.
The Power and Preciousness of Love
“Oh that you were like a brother to me
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts.
If I found you outside, I would kiss you;
No one would despise me, either.
2 I would lead you and abring you
Into the house of my mother, who used to teach me;
I would give you spiced wine to drink from the sweet wine of my pomegranates.
3 Let ahis left hand be under my head
And his right hand embrace me.”
4 “aI call you to solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Why should you arouse or awaken my love
Until she pleases?”