The Bride’s Troubled Dream

1“[†]On my bed night after night I sought him

Whom my soul loves;

I sought him but did not find him.

2‘[†]I must arise now and [†]go about the city;

In the streets and in the squares

[†]I must seek him whom my soul loves.’

I sought him but did not find him.

3The watchmen who go about the city found me,

And I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’

4Scarcely had I passed them by

When I found him whom my soul loves;

I seized him and would not let him go

Until I had brought him to my mother’s house,

And into the chamber of her who conceived me.”

5“[†]I call you to solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the gazelles or by the hinds of the field,

That you do not arouse or awaken my love

Until [†]she pleases.”

Solomon Arrives on His Wedding Day

6“[†]Who is this coming up from the wilderness

Like columns of smoke,

As rising incense of myrrh and frankincense,

With all scented powders of the merchant?

7Behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon;

Sixty mighty men around it,

Of the mighty men of Israel.

8All of them are those who seize the sword,

Learned in war;

Each man has his sword at his side,

Guarding against the [†]dreadful things of the night.

9King Solomon has made for himself a sedan chair

From the timber of Lebanon.

10He made its posts of silver,

Its [†]back of gold

And its seat of purple fabric,

With its interior inlaid with love

By the daughters of Jerusalem.

11Go forth and see, O daughters of Zion,

King Solomon with the [†]crown

With which his mother has crowned him

On the day of his wedding,

And on the day of his gladness of heart.”