Song of Solomon 3

The Maiden’s Dream: Seeking and Finding

3On my bed in the night,

I sought^a him whom my heart^b loves.

I sought him, but I did not find him.

²Now I will arise, and I will go about in the city,

in the streets and in the squares;

I will seek him whom my heart^c loves.

I sought him, but I did not find him.

³The sentinels who go about in the city found me.

“Have you seen the one whom my heart^d loves?”

⁴Scarcely had I passed^e by them

when I found him whom my heart^f loves.

I held him and I would not let him go

until I brought him to the house of my mother,

into the bedroom chamber of she who conceived me.

Adjuration Refrain

⁵I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,^g

by the gazelles or by the does of the field,

do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!^h

Royal Wedding Procession

⁶What is this coming up from the desert

like a column of smoke,

perfumed with myrrh and frankincense

from all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

⁷Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch!ⁱ

Sixty mighty men surround it,^j

the mighty men of Israel.

⁸All of them wield swords;^k

they are trained in warfare,^l

each with his sword at his thigh

to guard against terror^m in the night.

⁹King Solomonⁿ made for himself a sedan chair

from the wood of Lebanon.

¹⁰He made its column of silver, its back^o of gold, its seat of purple;

its interior is inlaid with leather^p by the maidens of Jerusalem.^q

¹¹Come out and look, O maidens of Zion,^r at King Solomon,^s

at the crown with which his mother crowned him

on the day of his wedding,

on the day of the joy of his heart!