The Bride and Her Beloved

The Bridegroom

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

I have plucked my myrrh with my spice;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

I have drunk my wine with my milk.

The Friends

Eat, friends, drink,

and drink freely, O beloved ones!

The Bride

2I was asleep, and my heart was aroused.

A sound! My beloved is knocking:

“Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove, my flawless one.

For my head is full of dew,

my locks of the drops of the night.”

3I have taken off my garment—

how do I put it on?

I have washed my feet—

how do I soil them?

4My beloved stretched out his hand to the latch,

and my bowels murmered for him.

5I arose to open up for my beloved,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,

and my fingers covered over with myrrh

on the palms of the bolt.

6I opened for my beloved,

and my beloved had turned away and had gone!

My heart went forth at his speaking.

I sought him, and could not find him;

I called to him, and he did not answer me.

7The guards found me in their going round about the city.

They struck me, they bruised me,

the guards of the walls;

they lifted my wrap from me.

8I adjure you⁺, O daughters of Jerusalem,

if you⁺ find my beloved,

what you⁺ should declare to him:

I am sick with love.

The Friends

9How is your beloved above any beloved,

O beautiful one among the women?

How is your beloved above any beloved,

that thus you adjure us?

The Bride

10My beloved is dazzling and ruddy,

distinguished above a myriad.

11His head is gold, pure gold;

his locks are wavy, black like the raven.

12His eyes are like doves

beside channels of waters,

washed with milk,

sitting beside a full pool.

13His cheeks are like a bed of spice,

towers of perfume.

His lips lilies,

dripping with flowing myrrh.

14His hands are rods of gold,

set with beryl;

his belly is a plate of ivory,

covered with sapphires;

15his legs are pillars of marble,

set on bases of pure gold;

his appearance is like the Lebanon,

being excellent like the cedars.

16His mouth† is sweetness,

and all of him is desireable.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem!