Song of Solomon 3

1. By night on my bed I sought Him Whom my soul loved; I sought Him, but I did not find Him.

2. I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the broad ways; I will seek Him Whom my soul loves. I sought Him, but I did not find Him.

3. The watchmen going about the city found me. I said, “Have you seen Him Whom my soul loves?”

4. But a little while after I passed from them, I found Him Whom my soul loves. I held Him and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother’s house, and into the room of her who conceived me.

5. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the does of the field, do not stir up nor awake love until it pleases.

6. Who is this coming up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, from all the merchant’s fragrant powders?

7. Behold his carriage, Solomon’s! Sixty mighty men are around it, of Israel’s mighty men.

8. They all hold swords, being experts in war; each man has his sword on his thigh guarding against the terrors of the night.

9. King Solomon made himself a royal chariot of Lebanon’s trees.

10. He made its poles of silver, its back gold, its seat of purple, the inside of it was inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

11. Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.