I have come into my garden, my  ¹sister, my bride;
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  ²friends;
Drink, and drink deeply, O beloved ones!

I  ¹sleep, but my heart is awake.
A sound! My beloved is knocking.
 ²Open to me, my sister, my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is drenched with dew,
My locks with the drops of night.

I have  ¹put off my garment;
How can I put it on again?
I have  ¹washed my feet;
How can I dirty them again?

My beloved put his  ¹hand into the opening of the door,
And my inner parts yearned for him.

I rose up to  ¹open to my beloved;
And my hands dripped with myrrh,
My fingers with liquid myrrh,
Upon the handles of the bolt.

I opened to my beloved,
But my beloved had withdrawn; he was gone.
My soul failed when he spoke;
I sought him, but found him not;
I called him — he answered me not.

The watchmen who go about the city found me.
They struck me; they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls took my veil from me.

I adjure, O  ¹daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
What shall you tell him?
That I am sick with love.

What is your beloved more than some other's beloved,
O you most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than some other's beloved,
That you adjure us so?

My beloved is  ¹dazzling white yet ruddy,
 ²Distinguished among ten thousand.

His  ¹head is the finest gold;
His locks are wavy,
As black as a raven.

His  ¹eyes are like doves
Beside the streams of water,
Bathed in milk,
Fitly set.

His  ¹cheeks are like a bed of spices,
Mounds of sweetly fragrant herbs;
His lips are lilies,
Dripping with liquid myrrh.

His  ¹hands are tubes of gold,
Set with beryl;
His belly is an ivory work,
Overlaid with sapphires.

His  ¹legs are pillars of white marble,
Set upon bases of gold;
His appearance is like Lebanon,
As excellent as the cedars.

His mouth is sweetness itself,
And he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.

 ¹Where has your beloved gone,
O you most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
That we may seek him with you?

My beloved has gone down to his  ¹garden,
To the beds of spices,
To feed in the gardens
And gather lilies.

I am  ¹my beloved's, and my beloved is mine;
He pastures his flock among the lilies.

You are as beautiful, my love, as  ¹Tirzah,
As lovely as  ¹Jerusalem,
As terrible as an  ²army with banners.

Turn your  ¹eyes away from me,
For they overwhelm me,
Your  ²hair is like a flock of goats
That repose on Mount Gilead.

Your  ¹teeth are like a flock of ewes
That have come up from the washing,
All of which have borne twins,
And none of them is bereaved of her young.

Your  ¹cheeks are like a piece of pomegranate
Behind your veil.

There are sixty  ¹queens and eighty  ¹concubines
And virgins without number.

My dove, my perfect one, is but one;
She is the only one of her mother;
She is the choice one of her who bore her.
The daughters saw her, and they called her blessed;
The queens and the concubines,
They also praised her.

Who is this woman who looks forth like the dawn,
As beautiful as the  ¹moon,
As clear as the  ¹sun,
As terrible as an  ²army with banners?

I went down to the  ¹orchard of nuts
To see the freshness of the valley,
To see whether the vine had budded,
Whether the pomegranates were in bloom.

Before I was aware,
My soul set me among the  ¹chariots of my noble people.

Return, return, O  ¹Shulammite;
Return, return, that we may gaze at you.
Why should you gaze at the Shulammite,
As upon the dance of  ²two camps?

 ¹How beautiful are your footsteps in  ²sandals,
O  ³prince's daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a skilled artist.

Your  ¹navel is a round goblet
That never lacks mixed wine;
Your  ¹belly is a heap of wheat,
Fenced in by lilies.

Your two  ¹breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.

Your  ¹neck is like a tower of ivory;
Your eyes, like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of Bath-rabbim;
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,
Which faces Damascus.

Your  ¹head upon you is like Carmel,
And the  ¹locks of your head like purple.
The king is fettered by your tresses.

How  ¹beautiful and how pleasant in delights
You are, O love!

This your stature is like a palm tree,
And your breasts are like the clusters.

I said, I will climb the  ¹palm tree;
I will take hold of its branches;
And let your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
And the fragrance of your nose like apples,

And the roof of your mouth like the best wine —

 ¹
Going down smoothly for my beloved,
Gliding through the lips of those who sleep.

I am my beloved's,
And his desire is for me.

Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the  ¹fields;
Let us lodge in the  ¹villages.

Let us rise up early for the  ¹vineyards;
Let us see if the vine has budded,
If the blossom is open,
If the pomegranates are in bloom;
There I will give you my love.

The  ¹mandrakes give forth fragrance,
And over our doors are all choice fruits,
New as well as old.
These, my beloved, I have stored up for you.

Oh that you were like a  ¹brother to me,
Who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you  ²outside, I would kiss you,
And none would despise me.

I would lead you and bring you
Into my  ¹mother's house,
Who has instructed me;
I would make you drink spiced wine
From the juice of my pomegranate.

His left hand would be under my head,
And his right hand would embrace me.

I  ¹adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Do not rouse up or awaken my love
Until she pleases.

Who is this who comes up from the wilderness,
 ¹Leaning on her beloved?
 ²I awakened you under the apple tree:
There your mother was in labor with you;
There she was in labor and brought you forth.

Set me as a  ¹seal on your heart,
As a seal on your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy is as cruel as  ²Sheol;
Its flashes are the flashes of fire,
A flame of  ³Jehovah.

Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor do floods drown it.
If a man gave all the substance of his house for love,
It would be utterly despised.

We have a little  ¹sister,
And she has no breasts:
What shall we do for our sister
On the day when she is spoken for?

If she is a  ¹wall,
We will build on her a battlement of silver;
And if she is a  ¹door,
We will enclose her with boards of cedar.

I am a  ¹wall, and my breasts are like towers;
Then I was in his eyes like one who has found peace.

Solomon had a vineyard at  ¹Baal-hamon:
He let out the vineyard to keepers;
Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

My vineyard, which is mine, is before me.
You will have the thousand, O Solomon;
And those who keep its fruit, two hundred.

O you who dwell in the gardens,
My companions listen for your  ¹voice;
Let me hear it.

 ¹Make haste, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle or a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices.