Song Of Songs 5

“My bride, I have come into my garden.
    My sister, I’ve gathered my myrrh and my spice.
I’ve eaten my honeycomb and my honey.
    I’ve drunk my wine and my milk.”

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.

“I slept, but my heart was awake.
    Listen! The one who loves me is knocking.
He says, ‘My sister, I love you.
    Open up so I can come in.
You are my dove.
    You are perfect in every way.
My head is soaked with dew.
    The night air has made my hair wet.’

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.

“But I’ve taken off my robe.
    Must I put it on again?
I’ve washed my feet.
    Must I get them dirty again?

I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

My love put his hand through the opening.
    My heart began to pound for him.

My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.

I got up to open the door for my love.
    My hands dripped with myrrh.
It flowed from my fingers
    onto the handles of the lock.

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.

I opened the door for my love.
    But he had left and was gone.
    My heart sank because he had left.
I looked for him but didn’t find him.
    I called out to him, but he didn’t answer.

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

Those on guard duty found me
    as they were walking around in the city.
They beat me. They hurt me.
    Those on guard duty at the walls
    took my coat away from me.

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.

Women of Jerusalem, make me a promise.
    If you find the one who loves me,
    tell him our love has made me weak.”

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

“You are the most beautiful woman of all.
    How is the one you love better than others?
How is he better than anyone else?
    Why do you ask us to make you this promise?”

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?

“The one who loves me is tanned and handsome.
    He’s the finest man among 10,000.

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

His head is like the purest gold.
    His hair is wavy and as black as a raven.

His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves
    by streams of water.
They look as if they’ve been washed in milk.
    They are set like jewels in his head.

His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

His cheeks are like beds of spice
    giving off perfume.
His lips are like lilies
    dripping with myrrh.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.

His arms are like rods of gold
    set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
    decorated with lapis lazuli.

His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

His legs are like pillars of marble
    set on bases of pure gold.
He looks like the finest cedar tree
    in the mountains of Lebanon.

His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

His mouth is very sweet.
    Everything about him is delightful.
That’s what the one who loves me is like.
    That’s what my friend is like, women of Jerusalem.”