Song of Solomon 5:1–6:12

¹My bride, my sister, I will come to my garden. 

I will gather my myrrh with my spice. 

I will eat my honeycomb with my honey. 

I will drink my wine with my milk. 

Eat, my friends! 

Drink and become intoxicated with expressions of love! 

The Young Woman Dreams of Marriage with Her Husband

^[BRIDE^[

²I sleep, but my mind is awake. 

Listen! My beloved is knocking. 

^[GROOM^[

Open to me, my true love, my sister, 

my dove, my perfect one. 

My head is wet with dew, 

my hair with the dewdrops of night. 

^[BRIDE^[

³I have taken off my clothes! Why should I put them on ⸤again⸥? 

I have washed my feet! Why should I get them dirty ⸤again⸥? 

⁴My beloved put his hand through the keyhole. 

My heart throbbed for him. 

⁵I got up to open for my beloved. 

My hands dripped with myrrh, 

and my fingers were drenched with liquid myrrh, 

on the handles of the lock. 

⁶I opened for my beloved, 

but my beloved had turned away. He was gone! 

I almost died when he left. 

I looked for him, but I did not find him. 

I called for him, but he did not answer me. 

⁷The watchmen making their rounds in the city found me. 

They struck me! 

They wounded me! 

Those watchmen on the walls took my robe from me! 

⁸Young women of Jerusalem, swear to me 

that if you find my beloved 

you will tell him I am hopelessly lovesick. 

^[THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN^[

⁹Most beautiful of women, 

what makes your beloved better than any other beloved? 

What makes your beloved better than any other beloved 

that you make us swear this way? 

^[BRIDE^[

¹⁰My beloved is dazzling yet ruddy. 

He stands out among 10,000 men. 

¹¹His head is the finest gold. 

His hair is wavy, black as a raven. 

¹²His eyes are set like doves bathing in milk. 

¹³His cheeks are like a garden of spices, 

a garden that produces scented herbs. 

His lips are lilies that drip with myrrh. 

¹⁴His hands are disks of gold set with emerald. 

His chest is a block of ivory covered with sapphires. 

¹⁵His legs are columns of marble set on bases of pure gold. 

His form is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars. 

¹⁶His mouth is sweet in every way. 

Everything about him is desirable! 

This is my beloved, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem. 

6TH CHAPTER

^[THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN^[

¹Where did your beloved go, most beautiful of women? 

Where did your beloved turn? 

We will look for him with you. 

^[BRIDE^[

²My beloved went to his garden, 

to the beds of spices, 

to graze his flock in the gardens and gather lilies. 

³I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. 

He is the one who grazes his flock among the lilies. 

Solomon Desires the Young Woman More Than the Rest of His Wives

^[GROOM^[

⁴You are beautiful, my true love, like Tirzah, 

lovely like Jerusalem, 

awe-inspiring like those great cities.^a

⁵Turn your eyes away from me. They enchant me! 

Your hair is like a flock of goats moving down from Gilead. 

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of sheep, 

sheep that come up from the washing. 

All of them bear twins, and not one has lost its young. 

⁷Your temples behind your veil are like slices of pomegranate. 

⁸There are 60 queens, 80 concubines,^band countless virgins, 

⁹but she is unique, my dove, my perfect one. 

Her mother thinks she is unique. 

She is pure to the one who gave birth to her. 

Her sisters saw her and blessed her. 

Queens and concubines saw her and praised her. 

The Young Woman’s Home in Shulam

^[THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN^[

¹⁰Who is this young woman? 

She looks like the dawn. 

She is beautiful like the moon, 

pure like the sun, 

awe-inspiring like those heavenly bodies. 

^[BRIDE^[

¹¹I went to the walnut grove 

to look at the blossoms in the valley, 

to see if the grapevine had budded 

and if the pomegranates were in bloom. 

¹²I did not know that I had become 

like the chariots of my noble people.^c

^[THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN^[