Song of Solomon 5–6

5MI have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.

I gather ^amy myrrh with my spices.

I eat my honeycomb with my honey.

I drink my wine with my milk.

NEat, friends!

Drink, be intoxicated with love! ^bc

W²I sleep, but my heart is awake.

A sound! My love is knocking! ^d

MOpen 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.

W³I have taken off my clothing. ^e

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, ^f

my fingers with flowing myrrh

on the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened to my love,

but my love had turned and gone away.

I was crushed ^gthat he had left. ^h

I sought him, but did not find him. ⁱ

I called him, but he did not answer.

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

They beat and wounded me;

they took my cloak ^kfrom me—

the guardians of the walls. ^l

⁸Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you: ^m

if you find my love,

tell him that I am lovesick. ⁿ

Y⁹What makes the one you love better than another,

most beautiful of women? ^o

What makes him better than another,

that you would give us this charge?

W¹⁰My love is fit and strong, ^pq

notable among ten thousand. ^r

¹¹His head is purest gold.

His hair is wavy ^st

and black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves ^u

beside streams of water,

washed in milk

and set like jewels. ^v

¹³His cheeks ^ware like beds of spice,

towers of ^xperfume.

His lips are lilies,

dripping with flowing myrrh. ^y

¹⁴His arms ^zare rods of gold

set ^awith topaz. ^bc

His body ^dis an ivory panel

covered with sapphires. ^e

¹⁵His legs are alabaster pillars

set on pedestals of pure gold.

His presence is like Lebanon, ^f

as majestic as the cedars. ^g

¹⁶His mouth is sweetness.

He is absolutely desirable. ^h

This is my love, and this is my friend,

young women of Jerusalem.

6YWhere has your love gone,

most beautiful of women?

Which way has he ⁱturned?

We will seek him with you.

W²My love has gone down to his garden, ^j

to beds of spice, ^k

to feed in the gardens ^l

and gather lilies. ^m

³I am my love’s and my love is mine; ⁿ

he feeds among the lilies.

M⁴You are as beautiful as Tirzah, ^omy darling,

lovely as Jerusalem,

awe-inspiring as an army with banners. ^p

⁵Turn your eyes away from me,

for they captivate me. ^q

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down from Gilead. ^r

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

coming up from washing,

each one having a twin,

and not one missing. ^st

⁷Behind your veil, ^u

your brow ^vis like a slice of pomegranate.

⁸There are 60 queens

and 80 concubines ^w

and young women ^xwithout number.

⁹But my dove, ^ymy virtuous one, is unique; ^z

she is the favorite of her mother,

perfect to the one who gave her birth.

Women see her and declare her fortunate; ^a

queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:

Y^b10Who is this ^cdwho shines like the dawn—

as beautiful as the moon,

bright as the sun,

awe-inspiring as an army with banners? ^e

W¹¹I 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.

¹²Before I knew it,

my desire put me

among the chariots of my noble people. ^g

Y^13hCome back, come back, Shulammite! ^ij

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

MWhy are you looking at the Shulammite,

as you look at the dance ^kof the two camps? ^lm