Song of Solomon 5

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