Song of Solomon 3

3RD CHAPTER

The Young Woman Dreams about Searching for Her Beloved

^[BRIDE^[

¹Night after night on my bed 

I looked for the one I love. 

I looked for him but did not find him. 

²I will get up now and roam around the city, 

in the streets, and in the squares. 

I will look for the one I love. 

I looked for him but did not find him. 

³The watchmen making their rounds in the city found me. 

⸤I asked,⸥ “Have you seen the one I love?” 

⁴I had just left them when I found the one I love. 

I held on to him and would not let him go 

until I had brought him into my mother’s house, 

into the bedroom of the one who conceived me. 

⁵Young women of Jerusalem, swear to me 

by the gazelles 

or by the does in the field, 

that you will not awaken love 

or arouse love before its proper time. 

A Description of the Royal Procession

^[THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN^[

⁶Who is this young woman coming up from the wilderness 

like clouds of smoke? 

She is perfumed with myrrh and incense 

made from the merchants’ scented powders. 

⁷Look! Solomon’s sedan chair!^a

Sixty soldiers from the army of Israel surround it. 

⁸All of them are skilled in using swords, 

experienced in combat. 

Each one has his sword at his side 

and guards against the terrors of the night. 

⁹King Solomon had a carriage made for himselffrom the wood of Lebanon. 

¹⁰He had its posts made out of silver, 

its top out of gold, 

its seat out of purple fabric. 

Its inside—with inlaid scenes of love— 

was made by the young women of Jerusalem. 

¹¹Young women of Zion, come out and look at King Solomon! 

Look at his crown, 

the crown his mother placed on him on his wedding day, 

his day of joyful delight.