Song

¹ I have come to my garden, my sister, my 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, and drink;

drink freely, O beloved.

² I sleep, but my heart is awake.

A sound! My beloved is knocking:

“Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove, my flawless one.

My head is drenched with dew,

my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³ I have taken off my robe—

must I put it back on?

I have washed my feet—

must I soil them again?

⁴ My beloved put his hand to the latch;

my heart pounded for him.

⁵ I rose up to open for my beloved.

My hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with flowing myrrh

on the handles of the bolt.

⁶ I opened for my beloved,

but he had turned and gone.

My heart sank at his departure.

I sought him, but did not find him.

I called, but he did not answer.

⁷ I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city.

They beat me and bruised me;

they took away my cloak,

those guardians of the walls.

⁸ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you,

if you find my beloved,

tell him I am sick with love.

⁹ How is your beloved better than others,

O most beautiful among women?

How is your beloved better than another,

that you charge us so?

¹⁰ My beloved is dazzling and ruddy,

outstanding among ten thousand.

¹¹ His head is purest gold;

his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

¹² His eyes are like doves

beside the streams of water,

bathed in milk

and mounted like jewels.

¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spice,

towers of perfume.

His lips are like lilies,

dripping with flowing myrrh.

¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold

set with beryl.

His body is an ivory panel

bedecked with sapphires.

¹⁵ His legs are pillars of marble

set on bases of pure gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon,

as majestic as the cedars.

¹⁶ His mouth ^[a] is most sweet;

he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.