Chapter 3
Loss and Discovery
1 W On my bed at night I sought him
whom my soul loves—
I sought him but I did not find him.
2 “Let me rise then and go about the city,
through the streets and squares;
Let me seek him whom my soul loves.”
I sought him but I did not find him.
3 The watchmen found me,
as they made their rounds in the city:
“Him whom my soul loves—have you seen him?”
4 Hardly had I left them
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him and would not let him go
until I had brought him to my mother’s house,
to the chamber of her who conceived me.
5 I adjure you, Daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles and the does of the field,
Do not awaken or stir up love
until it is ready.
Solomon’s Wedding Procession
6 D Who is this coming up from the desert,
like columns of smoke
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
with all kinds of exotic powders?
7 See! it is the litter of Solomon;
sixty valiant men surround it,
of the valiant men of Israel:
8 All of them expert with the sword,
skilled in battle,
Each with his sword at his side
against the terrors of the night.
9 King Solomon made himself an enclosed litter
of wood from Lebanon.
10 He made its columns of silver,
its roof of gold,
Its seat of purple cloth,
its interior lovingly fitted.
Daughters of Jerusalem, 11 go out
and look upon King Solomon
In the crown with which his mother has crowned him
on the day of his marriage,
on the day of the joy of his heart.