5 I have come to my garden, my sister bride,

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice,

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,

I have drunk my wine with my milk!

Eat, O friends! ⌊Drink and become drunk with love⌋!a

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

Adjuration Refrain

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