¹ [SHE] Upon my couch, in the night-time, sought I the beloved of my soul,—I sought him, but found him not.

² Come! I must arise, and go about in the city, In the paths and in the broadways, I must seek the beloved of my soul,—I sought him, but found him not.

³ The watchmen that go round in the city, found me, The beloved of my soul, have ye seen?

⁴ Scarcely had I passed from them, when I found the beloved of my soul,—I caught him, and would not let him go, until that I had brought him into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

⁵ [HE] I adjure you ye, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field,—That ye wake not, nor arouse, the dear love until she please. [****]

⁶ [THEY] Who is this, coming up out of the wilderness, like pillars of smoke,—with perfume of myrrh, and frankincense, besides all the aromatic powder of the merchant?

⁷ Lo! his couch, ’tis Solomon’s own, Threescore heroes, around it,—of the heroes of Israel:

⁸ All of them, grasping the sword, trained for war,—every man, with his sword upon his thigh, because of dread, in the night-time.

⁹ A palanquin, King Solomon made himself, of the trees of Lebanon:

¹⁰ The supports thereof, made he of silver, the couch thereof, of gold, the seat thereof, of purple,—the midst thereof, hath an inlay of love from the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹¹ Go forth and gaze, ye daughters of Zion, upon King Solomon,—wearing the crown, wherewith his mother, crowned him, in the day of his marriage, and in the day of his heart gladness.