The Bride’s Dream

1On my bed in the night

I sought him whom my soul loves;

I sought him,

and I did not find him.

2Now I will rise and go about the city,

in the streets and in the broad places;

I will seek the one whom my soul loves.

I sought him, and I did not find him.

3The guards found me in their going round about the city.

“The one my soul loves, have you⁺ seen him?”

4Scarcely had I passed by them when I found the one my soul loves;

I held him, and I would not let him go,

until I had brought him to the house of my mother,

and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

5I adjure you⁺, O daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or by the does of the field,

do not arouse or awaken love,

until it pleases.

Solomon Arrives on His Wedding Day

6Who is this coming up from the wilderness,

like pillars of smoke,

scented with myrrh and frankincense,

with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

7Behold, it is the couch† of Solomon!

Sixty mighty men are around it, the mighty ones of Israel.

8All of them are grasping a sword,

studied in warfare;

each man has his sword upon his thigh,

against the dread in the nights.

9King Solomon has made a carriage for himself

from the trees of the Lebanon.

10Its pillars He has made of silver,

its back of gold, its seat of purple;

its interior is inlaid with love,

by the daughters of Jerusalem.

11Go forth and gaze, O daughters of Zion,

at King Solomon,

at the crown with which his mother crowned him

on the day of his wedding,

and on the day of the joy of his heart.