Song of Solomon 3
1 In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and found him not.
One night when I was lying in bed, I longed for the one I love. I longed for him, but he was nowhere to be found.
2 I will rise, and will go about the city: in the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not.
So I said to myself, “I will get up now and go through the city, looking in its streets and squares for the one I love.” I looked for him but I didn't find him.
3 The watchmen who keep the city, found me: Have you seen him, whom my soul loveth?
The watchmen found me as they went through the city. “Have you seen the one I love?” I asked them.
4 When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him: and I will not let him go, till I bring him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that bore me.
Only a little farther on after I'd passed them I found my love! I held him close and would not let him go until I'd brought him to my mother's house, to the room of the one who conceived me.
5 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the harts of the fields, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved, till she please.
Women of Jerusalem, swear to me by the gazelles or the wild deer that you won't disturb our love until the right time.
6 Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?
Who is this coming in from the wilderness like a plume of smoke, like a burning sacrifice scented with myrrh and frankincense, with all kinds of imported perfumed powders?
7 Behold threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel, surrounded the bed of Solomon?
Look, it's Solomon's sedan chair, accompanied by sixty of Israel's best warriors.
8 All holding swords, and most expert in war: every man’s sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night.
All of them are expert swordsmen who have battle experience. They each carry a sword strapped to the thigh, ready for any night-time attacks.
9 King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus:
(Solomon's sedan chair was made for him with wood from Lebanon.
10 The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple: the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem.
Its posts were covered in silver, and the back was covered in gold. The seat cushion was purple. The interior was lovingly decorated.) Women of Jerusalem,
11 Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the joy of his heart.
come out! Look, women of Zion! See King Solomon wearing the crown that his mother placed on his head on his wedding day, his happiest day.
