Song of Solomon 3

1 By night on my bed I was looking for him who is the love of my soul: I was looking for him, but I did not see him.

On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.

2 I will get up now and go about the town, in the streets and in the wide ways I will go after him who is the love of my soul: I went after him, but I did not see him.

I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him.

3 The watchmen who go about the town came by me; to them I said, Have you seen him who is my heart's desire?

I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?”

4 I was but a little way from them, when I came face to face with him who is the love of my soul. I took him by the hands, and did not let him go, till I had taken him into my mother's house, and into the room of her who gave me birth.

I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

5 I say to you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes of the field, let not love be moved till it is ready.

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

6 Who is this coming out of the waste places like pillars of smoke, perfumed with sweet spices, with all the spices of the trader?

Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?

7 See, it is the bed of Solomon; sixty men of war are about it, of the army of Israel,

Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty of the mightiest men of Israel.

8 All of them armed with swords, trained in war; every man has his sword at his side, because of fear in the night.

All are skilled with the sword, experienced in warfare. Each has his sword at his side prepared for the terror of the night.

9 King Solomon made himself a bed of the wood of Lebanon.

King Solomon has made his carriage out of the timber of Lebanon.

10 He made its pillars of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it of ebony.

He has made its posts of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple fabric. Its interior is inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Go out, O daughters of Jerusalem, and see King Solomon, with the crown which his mother put on his head on the day when he was married, and on the day of the joy of his heart.

Come out, O daughters of Zion, and gaze at King Solomon, wearing the crown his mother bestowed on the day of his wedding— the day of his heart’s rejoicing.