¹By night on my bed ,

I sought him whom my soul loves.

I sought him , but I didn’t find him .

²I will get up now , and go about the city ;

in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves.

I sought him , but I didn’t find him .

³The watchmen who go about the city found me ;

“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

⁴I had scarcely passed from them ,

when I found him whom my soul loves.

I held him , and would not let him go ,

until I had brought him into my mother’s house ,

into the room of her who conceived me .

⁵I adjure you , daughters of Jerusalem ,

by the roes , or by the hinds of the field ,

that you not stir up nor awaken love ,

until it so desires .

⁶Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke ,

perfumed with myrrh and frankincense ,

with all spices of the merchant ?

⁷Behold , it is Solomon ’s carriage!

Sixty mighty men are around it ,

of the mighty men of Israel .

⁸They all handle the sword , and are expert in war .

Every man has his sword on his thigh ,

because of fear in the night .

⁹King Solomon made himself a carriage

of the wood of Lebanon .

¹⁰He made its pillars of silver ,

its bottom of gold , its seat of purple,

the middle of it being paved with love,

from the daughters of Jerusalem .

¹¹Go out , you daughters of Zion , and see King Solomon ,

with the crown with which his mother has crowned him ,

in the day of his weddings,

in the day of the gladness of his heart .