1 Or, When

the day is cool 2 Or, break Heb. breathe.

B Or, gazelle

4 Or,

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil 15

the vineyards;

For our vineyards are in blossom.

My beloved is mine, and I am his :
He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

16

'Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee 17
away,

Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a 'roe or a
young hart

5

Upon the 'mountains of Bether.

mountains of By night on my bed I sought him whom my 1 3

separation

5 Perhaps,

the spice malobathron.

soul loveth:

I sought him, but I found him not.

I said, I will rise now, and go about the city,
In the streets and in the broad ways,

I will seek him whom my soul loveth:

I sought him, but I found him not.

2

The watchmen that go about the city found 3

me:

To whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul
loveth?

It was but a little that I passed from them,
When I found him whom my soul loveth:

I held him, and would not let him go,

Until I had brought him into my mother's
house,

And into the chamber of her that conceived me.

* See ch. ii. 7. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
Until it please.

5

Who is this that cometh up out of the wilder- 6 ness like pillars of smoke,

Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,

With all powders of the merchant?
Behold, it is the litter of Solomon ;
Threescore mighty men are about it,

7

Of the mighty men of Israel.

8 They all handle the sword, and are expert in

war:

Every man hath his sword upon his thigh,
Because of fear in the night.

9 King Solomon made himself a 'palanquin

Of the wood of Lebanon.

IO He made the pillars thereof of silver,

The bottom thereof of gold, the seat of it of
purple,

The midst thereof being 'paved with love,

From the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold
king Solomon,

With the crown wherewith his mother hath
crowned him in the day of his espousals,

And in the day of the gladness of his heart.

4 1 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;

2

3

Thine eyes are as doves behind thy 'veil:
Thy hair is as a flock of goats,

That 'lie along the side of mount Gilead.

Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly
shorn,

Which are come up from the washing;

1 Or, car of state

2 Or, inlaid

3 Or, Thou hast
doves' eyes
4 Or, locks

5 Or, appear

on mount Gilead

"Whereof every one hath twins,

And none is bereaved among them.

3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,

And thy 'mouth is comely:

Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate

Behind thy 'veil.

6 Or, Which are all of them in pairs

7 Or, speech

8

4 Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for Or, with

an armoury,

Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers,

All the shields of the mighty men.

5 Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are

twins of a 'roe,

turrets

• Or, gazelle

Which feed among the lilies.

1 See ch. ii. 17. 1Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee 6

From the mountains of the leopards.

3 Or, given me Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my 9

courage

Or, one look

from thine eyes

5 Or, drop honey

bride;

Thou hast ravished my heart with 'one of

thine eyes,

With one chain of thy neck.

How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride!

How much better is thy love than wine!

And the smell of thine ointments than all manner of spices!

ΙΟ

Thy lips, O my bride, 'drop as the honeycomb: 11
Honey and milk are under thy tongue;

And the smell of thy garments is like the smell
of Lebanon.

• Heb. barred. A garden 'shut up is my sister, my bride; A 'spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

7 Or, according to many ancient authorities, garden

8 Or, a paradise

12

Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, 13

with precious fruits;

Henna with spikenard plants,

Spikenard and saffron,

Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frank

incense;

Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.
Thou art a fountain of gardens,

A well of living waters,

14

15

And flowing streams from Lebanon.

16 Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.

I

Let my beloved come into his garden,

And eat his precious fruits.

5 I am come into my garden, my sister, 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 friends;

Drink, yea, drink abundantly, 'O beloved.

2 I was asleep, but my heart waked:

Or, balsam

2 Or, of love

3 Or, I sleep, but my heart

It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, waketh
saying,

Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my
'undefiled:

For my head is filled with dew,

My locks with the drops of the night.

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

4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door,

And my 'heart was moved for him.

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

❝ I opened to my beloved;

4 Heb. perfect.

5 Heb. bowels.

6

According to

many MSS., within me.

7

But my beloved had 'withdrawn himself, and Or, turned

was gone.

My soul had failed me when he spake :
I sought him, but I could not find him;

away

8 Heb. went

forth.

1 Or, veil

I called him, but he gave me no answer.
The watchmen that go about the city found me, 7
They smote me, they wounded me;

The keepers of the walls took away my 'mantle
from me.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye 8
find my beloved,

2 Heb. What That ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

will ye tell

him? That

What is thy beloved more than another beloved, 9
O thou fairest among women?

What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
That thou dost so adjure us?

My beloved is white and ruddy,
The chiefest among ten thousand.
His head is as the most fine gold,

ΙΟ

II

His locks are 'bushy, and black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks; 12
Washed with milk, and 'fitly set.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as 'banks of 13
sweet herbs:

His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

His hands are as 'rings of gold set with 'beryl: 14 His body is as ivory work "overlaid with sapphires.

His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon 15
sockets of fine gold:

His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the
cedars.

His "mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether 16
lovely.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.

Whither is thy beloved gone,

O thou fairest among women?

Whither hath thy beloved turned him,

I 6