1 I am come into
my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with
my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk
my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly,
O beloved.
2 I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with
the drops of the night.
3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed
my feet; how shall I defile them?
4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my
bowels were moved for him.
5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with
myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles
of the lock.
6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself,
and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but
I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote
me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil
from me.
8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved,
that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest
among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved,
that thou dost so charge us?
10 My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.
11 His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and
black as a raven.
12 His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters,
washed with milk, and fitly set.
13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his
lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
14 His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly
is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine
gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This
is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
Chapter 6
1 Whither is thy
beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved
turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices,
to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among
the lilies.
4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem,
terrible as an army with banners.
5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy
hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
6 Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing,
whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren
among them.
7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.
8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and
virgins without number.
9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her
mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters
saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines,
and they praised her.
10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the
moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?
11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of
the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the
pomegranates budded.
12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of
Amminadib.
13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may
look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were
the company of two armies.
Chapter 7
1 How beautiful
are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of
thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning
workman.
2 Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor:
thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.
3 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
4 Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools
in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim: thy nose is as the tower
of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.
5 Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine
head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.
6 How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!
7 This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to
clusters of grapes.
8 I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of
the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters
of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;
9 And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved,
that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are
asleep to speak.
10 I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.
11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us
lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine
flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates
bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
13 The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner
of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee,
O my beloved.
Chapter 8
1 O that thou wert
as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I
should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not
be despised.
2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house,
who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced
wine of the juice of my pomegranate.
3 His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand
should embrace me.
4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up,
nor awake my love, until he please.
5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon
her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy
mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that
bare thee.
6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm:
for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave:
the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement
flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown
it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
it would utterly be contemned.
8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall
we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver:
and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.
10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his
eyes as one that found favour.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard
unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a
thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon,
must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof
two hundred.
13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken
to thy voice: cause me to hear it.
14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a
young hart upon the mountains of spices. |