1 On my bed by nightI sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.
2 I will rise now and go about the city,in the streets and in the squares;I will seek him whom my soul loves.I sought him, but found him not.
3 The watchmen found meas they went about in the city.“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed themwhen I found him whom my soul loves.I held him, and would not let him gountil I had brought him into my mother’s house,and into the chamber of her who conceived me.
5 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field,that you not stir up or awaken loveuntil it pleases.
6 What is that coming up from the wildernesslike columns of smoke,perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
7 Behold, it is the litter of Solomon!Around it are sixty mighty men,some of the mighty men of Israel,
8 all of them wearing swordsand expert in war,each with his sword at his thigh,against terror by night.
9 King Solomon made himself a carriagefrom the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver,its back of gold, its seat of purple;its interior was inlaid with loveby the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, O daughters of Zion,and look upon King Solomon,with the crown with which his mother crowned himon the day of his wedding,on the day of the gladness of his heart.