Song of Solomon 3

¹By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loved; I sought Him, but I did not find Him.

²I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the broad ways; I will seek Him whom my soul loves. I sought Him, but I did not find Him.

³The watchmen going about the city found me. I said, Have you seen Him whom my soul loves?

⁴But a little while after I passed from them, I found Him whom my soul loves. I held Him and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother's house, and into the room of her who conceived me.

⁵I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the does of the field, do not stir up nor awake my love until it pleases.

⁶Who is this coming up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, from all the merchant's powders?

⁷Behold his bed, Solomon's! Sixty mighty men are around it, of Israel's mighty men.

⁸They all hold swords, instructed in war; each man has his sword on his thigh because of fear in the night.

⁹King Solomon made himself a litter-bed of Lebanon's trees.

¹⁰He made its poles of silver, its back gold, its seat of purple, its middle was paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹¹Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.