Song of Solomon 5–6

He

5I have come into my garden,ⁱ my sister, my bride;^j

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.

I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;

I have drunk my wine and my milk.^k

Friends

Eat, friends, and drink;

drink your fill of love.

She

²I slept but my heart was awake.

Listen! My beloved is knocking:

“Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove,^l my flawless^m one.ⁿ

My head is drenched with dew,

my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³I have taken off my robe—

must I put it on again?

I have washed my feet—

must I soil them again?

⁴My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;

my heart began to pound for him.

⁵I arose to open for my beloved,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,^o

my fingers with flowing myrrh,

on the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened for my beloved,^p

but my beloved had left; he was gone.^q

My heart sank at his departure.^a

I looked^r for him but did not find him.

I called him but he did not answer.

⁷The watchmen found me

as they made their rounds in the city.^s

They beat me, they bruised me;

they took away my cloak,

those watchmen of the walls!

⁸Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you^t—

if you find my beloved,^u

what will you tell him?

Tell him I am faint with love.^v

Friends

⁹How is your beloved better than others,

most beautiful of women?^w

How is your beloved better than others,

that you so charge us?

She

¹⁰My beloved is radiant and ruddy,

outstanding among ten thousand.^x

¹¹His head is purest gold;

his hair is wavy

and black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves^y

by the water streams,

washed in milk,^z

mounted like jewels.

¹³His cheeks^a are like beds of spice^b

yielding perfume.

His lips are like lilies^c

dripping with myrrh.^d

¹⁴His arms are rods of gold

set with topaz.

His body is like polished ivory

decorated with lapis lazuli.^e

¹⁵His legs are pillars of marble

set on bases of pure gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon,^f

choice as its cedars.

¹⁶His mouth^g is sweetness itself;

he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved,^h this is my friend,

daughters of Jerusalem.ⁱ

Friends

6Where has your beloved^j gone,

most beautiful of women?^k

Which way did your beloved turn,

that we may look for him with you?

She

²My beloved has gone^l down to his garden,^m

to the beds of spices,ⁿ

to browse in the gardens

and to gather lilies.

³I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;^o

he browses among the lilies.^p

He

⁴You are as beautiful as Tirzah,^q my darling,

as lovely as Jerusalem,^r

as majestic as troops with banners.^s

⁵Turn your eyes from me;

they overwhelm me.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

descending from Gilead.^t

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of sheep

coming up from the washing.

Each has its twin,

not one of them is missing.^u

⁷Your temples behind your veil^v

are like the halves of a pomegranate.^w

⁸Sixty queens^x there may be,

and eighty concubines,^y

and virgins beyond number;

⁹but my dove,^z my perfect one,^a is unique,

the only daughter of her mother,

the favorite of the one who bore her.^b

The young women saw her and called her blessed;

the queens and concubines praised her.

Friends

¹⁰Who is this that appears like the dawn,

fair as the moon, bright as the sun,

majestic as the stars in procession?

He

¹¹I went down to the grove of nut trees

to look at the new growth in the valley,

to see if the vines had budded

or the pomegranates were in bloom.^c

¹²Before I realized it,

my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.^a

Friends

¹³Come back, come back, O Shulammite;

come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!

He

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite

as on the dance^d of Mahanaim?^b