Song of Solomon 5

¹I have come to my garden, my sister bride,

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,

Eat, O friends! Drink and become drunk with love!

Maiden’s Dream: Seeking and Not Finding

²I was asleep but my heart was awake.[#Or “and”]

“Open to me, my sister, my beloved,

For my head is full of dew,

³I have taken off my tunic, must I put it on?[#Literally “How will I put it on?”]

⁴My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,

⁵I myself arose to open to my beloved;

my fingers with liquid myrrh

⁶I opened myself to my beloved,

my heart sank when he turned away.

I sought him, but I did not find him;

⁷The sentinels making rounds in the city found me;

they took my cloak away from me—

Adjuration Refrain

⁸I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,[#Literally “O daughters of Jerusalem”]

Tell him that I am lovesick!

Maiden’s Praise of Her Beloved

⁹How is your beloved better than another lover,[#Literally “What is your beloved more than another beloved …?”]

How is your beloved better than another lover,

¹⁰My beloved is radiant and ruddy,[#Literally “red”]

¹¹His head is gold, refined gold;

¹²His eyes are like doves beside springs of water,[#Or “streams”]

¹³His cheeks are like beds of spice, a tower of fragrances;

¹⁴His arms are rods of gold engraved with jewels;[#Literally “cylinders”; #Or “rings”; #Literally “filled with”]

¹⁵His legs are columns of alabaster, set on bases of gold;[#Or “marble”]

¹⁶His mouth is sweet,[#Or “his palate”]

This is my beloved;