1On my bed through the nights I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him but did not find him.
2Let me rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; let me seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him but did not find him.
3The watchmen found me, those who go about the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4Scarcely had I passed on from them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him to the house of my mother, to the chamber of her who conceived me.
5I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field: do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
6Who is this coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?
7Behold, it is the litter of Solomon! Sixty warriors surround it, from the warriors of Israel,
8all of them gripping the sword, trained for war, each man with his sword at his thigh against the terror of the nights.
9A palanquin King Solomon made for himself from the wood of Lebanon.
10Its posts he made of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; its interior fitted out with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.
11Go out, daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon, upon the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart.
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