Man

1I have come to my garden — my sister, my bride.

I gatherA my myrrh with my spices.

I eat my honeycomb with my honey.

I drink my wine with my milk.

Narrator

Eat, friends!

Drink, be intoxicated with caresses!B a

Woman

2I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.

A sound! My love was knocking!a

Man

Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove, my perfect one.

For my head is drenched with dew,

my hair with droplets of the night.

Woman

3I have taken off my clothing.a

How can I put it back on?

I have washed my feet.

How can I get them dirty?

4My love thrust his hand through the opening,

and my feelings were stirred for him.

5I rose to open for my love.

My hands dripped with myrrh,a

my fingers with flowing myrrh

on the handles of the bolt.

6I opened to my love,

but my love had turned and gone away.

My heart sankA because he had left.B

I sought him, but did not find him.a

I called him, but he did not answer.

7The guards who go about the city found me.a

They beat and wounded me;

they took my cloakA from me —

the guardians of the walls.b

8Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,a

if you find my love,

tell him that I am lovesick.b

Young Women

9What makes the one you love better than another,

most beautiful of women?a

What makes him better than another,

that you would give us this charge?

Woman

10My love is fit and strong,a a

notable among ten thousand.b

11His head is purest gold.

His hair is wavya a

and black as a raven.

12His eyes are like dovesa

beside flowing streams,

washed in milk

and set like jewels.A

13His cheeksa are like beds of spice,

mounds ofA perfume.

His lips are lilies,

dripping with flowing myrrh.b

14His armsA are rods of gold

setB with beryl.a

His bodyC is an ivory panel

covered with lapis lazuli.b

15His legs are alabaster pillars

set on pedestals of pure gold.

His presence is like Lebanon,a

as majestic as the cedars.b

16His mouth is sweetness.

He is absolutely desirable.a

This is my love, and this is my friend,

young women of Jerusalem.