Canticum Canticorum 3
1 In lectulo meo per noctes quaesivi quem diligit anima mea: quaesivi illum, et non inveni.
[SHE] Upon my couch, in the night-time, sought I the beloved of my soul, —I sought him, but found him not.
2 Surgam, et circuibo civitatem: per vicos et plateas quaeram quem diligit anima mea: quaesivi illum, et non inveni.
Come! I must arise, and go about in the city, In the paths and in the broadways, I must seek the beloved of my soul, —I sought him, but found him not.
3 Invenerunt me vigiles, qui custodiunt civitatem: Num quem diligit anima mea, vidistis?
The watchmen that go round in the city, found me, The beloved of my soul, have ye seen?
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.
Scarcely had I passed from them, when I found the beloved of my soul, —I caught him, and would not let him go, until that I had brought him into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
5 Adiuro vos filiae Ierusalem per capreas, cervosque camporum, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam donec ipsa velit.
[HE] I adjure you ye, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, —That ye wake not, nor arouse, the dear love until she please.
6 Quae est ista, quae ascendit per desertum sicut virgula fumi ex aromatibus myrrhae, et thuris, et universi pulveris pigmentarii?
[THEY] Who is this, coming up out of the wilderness, like pillars of smoke, —with perfume of myrrh, and frankincense, besides all the aromatic powder of the merchant?
7 En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt ex fortissimis Israel:
Lo! his couch,’tis Solomon’s own, Threescore heroes, around it, —of the heroes of Israel:
8 omnes tenentes gladios, et ad bella doctissimi: uniuscuiusque ensis super femur suum propter timores nocturnos.
All of them, grasping the sword, trained for war, —every man, with his sword upon his thigh, because of dread, in the night-time.
9 Ferculum fecit sibi rex Salomon de lignis Libani:
A palanquin, King Solomon made himself, of the trees of Lebanon:
10 columnas eius fecit argenteas, reclinatorium aureum, ascensum purpureum: media charitate constravit propter filias Ierusalem:
The supports thereof, made he of silver, the couch thereof, of gold, the seat thereof, of purple, —the midst thereof, hath an inlay of love from the daughters 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.
Go forth and gaze, ye daughters of Zion, upon King Solomon, —wearing the crown, wherewith his mother, crowned him, in the day of his marriage, and in the day of his heart gladness.
