1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but I did not find him. 2 I 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. 3 The watchmen that go about the city found me, to whom I said, Have ye seen him whom my soul loves? 4 It was but a little that I passed from them that 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 chamber of her that brought me into the light. 5 I charge you, O ye virgins of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye not awake nor stir up love, until he pleases.
6 Who is she that rises out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense and with all the aromatic powders? 7 Behold it is the bed of Solomon; sixty valiant men are about it of the valiant of Israel. 8 They all hold swords, being expert in war; each one has his sword upon his thigh because of the fears of the night. 9 King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon. 10 He made its pillars of silver, the bottom of it of gold, the covering of it of purple, its interior being paved with love, for the virgins of Jerusalem. 11 Go forth, O ye virgins of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.