Canticum Canticorum 3
1 In lectulo meo per noctes quaesivi quem diligit anima mea: quaesivi illum, et non inveni.
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 Surgam, et circuibo civitatem: per vicos et plateas quaeram quem diligit anima mea: quaesivi illum, et non inveni.
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 Invenerunt me vigiles, qui custodiunt civitatem: Num quem diligit anima mea, vidistis?
The watchmen found me as they went through the city. “Have you seen the one I love?” I asked them.
4 Paululum cum pertransissem eos, inveni quem diligit anima mea: tenui eum, nec dimittam donec introducam illum in domum matris meae, et in cubiculum genetricis meae.
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 Adiuro vos filiae Ierusalem per capreas, cervosque camporum, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam donec ipsa velit.
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 Quae est ista, quae ascendit per desertum sicut virgula fumi ex aromatibus myrrhae, et thuris, et universi pulveris pigmentarii?
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 En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt ex fortissimis Israel:
Look, it's Solomon's sedan chair, accompanied by sixty of Israel's best warriors.
8 omnes tenentes gladios, et ad bella doctissimi: uniuscuiusque ensis super femur suum propter timores nocturnos.
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 Ferculum fecit sibi rex Salomon de lignis Libani:
(Solomon's sedan chair was made for him with wood from Lebanon.
10 columnas eius fecit argenteas, reclinatorium aureum, ascensum purpureum: media charitate constravit propter filias Ierusalem:
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 Egredimini et videte filiae Sion regem Salomonem in diademate, quo coronavit illum mater sua in die desponsationis illius, et in die laetitiae cordis eius.
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.
