Chapter 3

By night on my bed I sought¹⁴ him whom my soul loveth:¹ I sought¹⁴ him, but I found¹ him not.

I will rise⁴ now, and go about²⁵ the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek¹⁷ him whom my soul loveth:¹ I sought¹⁴ him, but I found¹ him not.

The watchmen⁶ that go about⁶ the city found¹ me: [to whom I said], Saw¹ ye him whom my soul loveth?¹

[It was] but a little that I passed¹ from them, but I found¹ him whom my soul loveth:¹ I held him,¹ and would not let him go,⁵⁵ until I had brought⁵² him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived⁶ me.

I charge⁵² you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up,⁵⁵ nor awake³⁴ [my] love, till he please.⁴

Who [is] this that cometh⁶ out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed³⁰ with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?⁶

Behold his bed, which [is] Solomon's; threescore valiant men [are] about it, of the valiant of Israel.

They all hold⁷ swords, [being] expert³⁰ in war: every man [hath] his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

King Solomon made¹ himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

He made¹ the pillars thereof [of] silver, the bottom thereof [of] gold, the covering of it [of] purple, the midst thereof being paved⁷ [with] love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

Go forth,³ O ye daughters of Zion, and behold³ king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned¹⁴ him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.