Song of Solomon 5:2–6:3
The Maiden’s Dream: Seeking and Not Finding
2 I was asleep butb my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved knocking!c
“Open to me, my sister, my beloved,
my dove, my perfect one!
For my head is full of dew,
⌊my hair drenched from the moist night air⌋.”d
3 I have taken off my tunic, ⌊must I put it on⌋?e
I have bathed my feet, ⌊must I soil them⌋?f
4 My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,
and my inmost yearned for him.
5 I myself arose to open to my beloved;
my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh
upon the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened myself to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone;g
my heart sankh when he turned away.i
I sought him, but I did not find him;
I called him, but he did not answer me.
7 The sentinels making rounds in the city found me;
they beat me, they wounded me;
they took my cloakj away from me—
⌊those sentinels on the walls⌋!k
8 I adjure you, ⌊O maidens of Jerusalem⌋,l
if you find my beloved, what will you tell him?
Tell him that I am ⌊lovesick⌋!m
The Maiden’s Praise of Her Beloved
9 ⌊How is your beloved better than another lover⌋,n
O most beautiful among women?
⌊How is your beloved better than another lover⌋, o
that you adjure us thus?
10 My beloved is radiant and ⌊ruddy⌋,p
distinguished ⌊among⌋q ten thousand.
11 His head is gold, refined gold;
his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves beside springsr of water,
bathed in milk, ⌊set like mounted jewels⌋.s t
13 His cheeks are like beds of spice, a tower of fragrances;
his lips are lilies dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are ⌊rods⌋u v of gold ⌊engraved with⌋w jewels;
his bellyx is polished ivory covered with sapphires.y
15 His legs are columns of alabaster,z set on bases of gold;
his appearance is like Lebanon, choice as ⌊its cedars⌋.a
16 ⌊His mouth⌋b is sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved;
this is my friend, ⌊O young women of Jerusalem⌋.c
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned
that we may seek him with you?
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the garden bed of the spice,
to pasture his flock and to gather lilies in the garden.
3 ⌊I belong to my beloved and my beloved belongs to me⌋;a
he pastures his flock among the lilies.