3 On my bed in the night
I longed for the one my soul loves.
I looked for him but did not find him.
2 I will get up and go about the city,
into the streets and into the squares.
I must seek the one my soul loves.
I looked for him but did not find him.
3 The guards patrolling the city found me.
“Have you seen the one my soul loves?”
4 Hardly had I passed beyond them
when I found the one my soul loves.
I held him, and I would not let him go,
until I brought him to my mother’s house,
to the chamber of her who conceived me.
5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you,
by the gazelles and does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it delights.
The King on his Wedding Day
6 Who is this—she who is coming up from the wilderness
like columns of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
with every powder of the merchant?
7 Behold, it is Solomon’s traveling couch—
around it are sixty warriors
from the warriors of Israel.
8 All of them wield a sword,
experts in war.
Each man with his sword on his thigh
against terrors of the night.
9 King Solomon has made for himself
a carriage from the trees of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver, its back of gold,
its seat of purple cloth,
its interior fitted out with love
by the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, daughters of Zion,
and gaze upon King Solomon,
with a wreath his mother placed on him
on the day of his marriage—
on the day of his heart’s joy.