1  I ^gcame to my garden, my ^hsister, my bride,

I gathered my ⁱmyrrh with my spice,

I ate my ^jhoneycomb with my honey,

I ^kdrank my wine with my milk.

Eat, ^lfriends, drink,

and be drunk with love!

2  I slept, but my heart was awake.

A sound! My beloved is ^mknocking.

“Open to me, my ⁿsister, my ^olove,

my ^pdove, my ^qperfect one,

for my head is wet with dew,

my ^rlocks with the drops of the night.”

3  ^sI had put off my garment;

how could I put it on?

I had ^tbathed my feet;

how could I soil them?

4  My beloved put his hand to the latch,

and my heart was thrilled within me.

5  I arose to open to my beloved,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with ^uliquid myrrh,

on the handles of the bolt.

6  I opened to my beloved,

but my beloved had turned and gone.

My soul failed me when he ^vspoke.

^wI sought him, but found him not;

^xI called him, but he gave no answer.

7  ^yThe watchmen found me

as they went about in the city;

they beat me, they bruised me,

they took away my veil,

those watchmen of the walls.

8  I ^zadjure you, O ^adaughters of Jerusalem,

if you find my beloved,

that you tell him

^bI am sick with love.

9  What is your beloved more than another beloved,

O ^cmost beautiful among women?

What is your beloved more than another beloved,

that you thus ^zadjure us?

10  My beloved is radiant and ^druddy,

^edistinguished among ten thousand.

11  His head is the finest gold;

^fhis locks are wavy,

black as a raven.

12  His ^geyes are like doves

beside streams of water,

bathed in milk,

sitting beside a full pool.¹

13  His ⁱcheeks are like ^jbeds of spices,

mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.

His lips are ^klilies,

dripping ^uliquid myrrh.

14  His arms are rods of gold,

set with ^ljewels.

His body is polished ivory,²

bedecked with ^msapphires.³

15  His legs are alabaster columns,

set on bases of gold.

His appearance is like ^oLebanon,

choice as the cedars.

16  His ^pmouth⁴ is most sweet,

and he is altogether desirable.

This is my beloved and this is my friend,

O ^adaughters of Jerusalem.

1  Where has your beloved gone,

O ^cmost beautiful among women?

Where has your beloved turned,

that we may seek him with you?

2  My beloved has gone down to his ^qgarden

to ^rthe beds of spices,

to ^sgraze⁵ in the gardens

and to gather ^tlilies.

3  ^uI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;

he grazes among the lilies.

4  You are beautiful as ^vTirzah, ^wmy love,

^xlovely as ^yJerusalem,

^zawesome as an army with banners.

5  Turn away your eyes from me,

for they overwhelm me—

^aYour hair is like a flock of goats

leaping down the slopes of Gilead.

6  ^bYour teeth are like a flock of ewes

that have come up from the washing;

all of them bear twins;

not one among them has lost its young.

7  ^cYour cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.

8  There are ^dsixty ^equeens and eighty ^econcubines,

and ^fvirgins without number.

9  My ^gdove, my ^hperfect one, is the only one,

the only one of her mother,

pure to ⁱher who bore her.

^jThe young women saw her and called her blessed;

^ethe queens and ^econcubines also, and they praised her.

10  ^k“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,

beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,

^lawesome as an army with banners?”

11  I went down to the nut orchard

to look at ^mthe blossoms of the valley,

ⁿto see whether the vines had budded,

whether the pomegranates were in bloom.

12  ^oBefore I was aware, my desire set me

among ^pthe chariots of my kinsman, a prince.⁶

13  ⁷ Return, return, O ^qShulammite,

return, return, that we may look upon you.

Why should you look upon ^qthe Shulammite,

as upon ^ra dance before ^stwo armies?⁸