Song of Solomon 5:1–6:13

I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.

I gather^C my myrrh with my spices.

I eat my honeycomb with my honey.

I drink my wine with my milk.

Narrator

Eat, friends!

Drink, be intoxicated with caresses!^Dad

Woman

²I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.

A sound! My love was knocking!^a

Man

Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove, my perfect one.

For my head is drenched with dew,

my hair with droplets of the night.

Woman

³I have taken off my clothing.^b

How can I put it back on?

I have washed my feet.

How can I get them dirty?

⁴My love thrust his hand through the opening,

and my feelings were stirred for him.

⁵I rose to open for my love.

My hands dripped with myrrh,^c

my fingers with flowing myrrh

on the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened to my love,

but my love had turned and gone away.

My heart sank^E because he had left.^F

I sought him, but did not find him.^d

I called him, but he did not answer.

⁷The guards who go about the city found me.^e

They beat and wounded me;

they took my cloak^G from me—

the guardians of the walls.^f

⁸Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,^g

if you find my love,

tell him that I am lovesick.^h

Young Women

⁹What makes the one you love better than another,

most beautiful of women?ⁱ

What makes him better than another,

that you would give us this charge?

Woman

¹⁰My love is fit and strong,^Aj

notable among ten thousand.^k

¹¹His head is purest gold.

His hair is wavy^Bl

and black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves^m

beside flowing streams,

washed in milk

and set like jewels.^C

¹³His cheeksⁿ are like beds of spice,

mounds of^D perfume.

His lips are lilies,

dripping with flowing myrrh.^o

¹⁴His arms^E are rods of gold

set with beryl.^p

His body^G is an ivory panel

covered with lapis lazuli.^q

¹⁵His legs are alabaster pillars

set on pedestals of pure gold.

His presence is like Lebanon,^r

as majestic as the cedars.^s

¹⁶His mouth is sweetness.

He is absolutely desirable.^t

This is my love, and this is my friend,

young women of Jerusalem.

Young Women

6Where has your love gone,

most beautiful of women?

Which way has he^H turned?

We will seek him with you.

Woman

²My love has gone down to his garden,^u

to beds of spice,^v

to feed in the gardens^w

and gather lilies.^x

³I am my love’s and my love is mine;^y

he feeds among the lilies.

Man

⁴You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,

lovely as Jerusalem,

awe-inspiring as an army with banners.^z

⁵Turn your eyes away from me,

for they captivate me.^aa

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down from Gilead.^ab

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

coming up from washing,

each one having a twin,

and not one missing.^Iac

⁷Behind your veil,^ad

your brow^J is like a slice of pomegranate.

⁸There are sixty queens

and eighty concubines^ae

and young women without number.

⁹But my dove,^a my virtuous one, is unique;^b

she is the favorite of her mother,

perfect to the one who gave her birth.

Women see her and declare her fortunate;^c

queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:

¹⁰Who is this^d who shines like the dawn,

as beautiful as the moon,

bright as the sun,

awe-inspiring as an army with banners?^e

Woman

¹¹I came down to the walnut grove

to see the blossoms of the valley,

to see if the vines were budding^f

and the pomegranates blooming.

¹²I didn’t know what was happening to me.

I felt like I was

in a chariot with a nobleman.^A

Young Women

¹³Come back, come back, Shulammite!^B

Come back, come back, that we may look at you!

Man

How you gaze at the Shulammite,

as you look at the dance^g of the two camps!^Ch