1 On my bed in the night, I sought him whom my ⌞heart⌟ loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.
2 Now 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⌟ loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.
3 The sentinels who go about in the city found me. “Have you seen the one whom my ⌞heart⌟ loves?”
4 ⌞Scarcely had I passed⌟ by them when I found him whom my ⌞heart⌟ 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.
5 I adjure you, ⌞O maidens of Jerusalem⌟, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!
6 What 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?
7 Look! It is Solomon’s ⌞portable couch⌟! Sixty mighty men surround ⌞it⌟, the mighty men of Israel.
8 All of them ⌞wield swords⌟; they are ⌞trained in warfare⌟, each with his sword at his thigh to guard ⌞against terror⌟ in the night.
9 ⌞King Solomon⌟ made for himself a sedan chair from the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its column of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; its interior is inlaid with leather by ⌞the maidens of Jerusalem⌟.
11 Come out and look, ⌞O maidens of Zion⌟, at ⌞King Solomon⌟, at the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the joy of his heart!