Song of Solomon 3:1-9 ▼

1 “On my bed night after night [I dreamed that] I sought the one Whom my soul loves; I sought him but did not find him.

2 “I said ‘So I must arise now and go out into the city; Into the streets and into the squares [places I do not know] I must seek him whom my soul loves.’ I sought him but I did not find him.

3 “The watchmen who go around the city found me, And I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’

4 “Scarcely had I passed them When I found him whom my soul loves. I held on to him and would not let him go Until I had brought him to my mother’s house, And into the chamber of her who conceived me.”

5 “I command that you take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles or by the does of the field, That you do not rouse nor awaken my love Until she pleases.”

6 “What is this coming up from the wilderness Like [stately] pillars of smoke Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all the fragrant powders of the merchant?”

7 “Behold, it is the couch (palanquin) of Solomon; Sixty mighty men around it, Of the mighty men of Israel.

8 “All of them handle the sword, All expert in war; Each man has his sword at his thigh, Guarding against the terrors of the night.

9 “King Solomon has made for himself a palanquin From the [cedar] wood of Lebanon.