¹ All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him but did not find him.
² I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but did not find him.
³ The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
⁴ Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
till I had brought him to my mother’s house,
to the room of the one who conceived me.
⁵ Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.
⁶ Who is this coming up from the wilderness
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and incense
made from all the spices of the merchant?
⁷ Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,
escorted by sixty warriors,
the noblest of Israel,
⁸ all of them wearing the sword,
all experienced in battle,
each with his sword at his side,
prepared for the terrors of the night.
⁹ King Solomon made for himself the carriage;
he made it of wood from Lebanon.
¹⁰ Its posts he made of silver,
its base of gold.
Its seat was upholstered with purple,
its interior inlaid with love.
Daughters of Jerusalem, ¹¹ come out,
and look, you daughters of Zion.
Look on King Solomon wearing a crown,
the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
the day his heart rejoiced.