Song of Solomon 3

Modern

Literal

The Bride’s Dream

¹On my bed at night

I sought the one I love;

I sought him,

but did not find him.

¹On my bed in the night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, and I did not find him.

²I will arise now and go about the city,

through the streets and squares.

I will seek the one I love.

So I sought him but did not find him.

²Now I will rise and go about the city, in the streets and in the broad places; I will seek the one whom my soul loves. I sought him, and I did not find him.

³I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city:

“Have you seen the one I love?”

³The guards found me in their going round about the city. “The one my soul loves, have you seen him?”

⁴I had just passed them when I found the one I love.

I held him and would not let go

until I had brought him to my mother’s house,

to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

⁴Scarcely had I passed by them when I found the one my soul loves; I held him, and I would not let him go, until I had brought him to the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

⁵O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you

by the gazelles and does of the field:

Do not arouse or awaken love

until the time is right.

⁵I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, do not arouse or awaken love, until it pleases.

Solomon Arrives on His Wedding Day

⁶Who is this coming up from the wilderness

like a column of smoke,

scented with myrrh and frankincense

from all the spices of the merchant?

⁶Who is this coming up from the wilderness, like pillars of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

⁷Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage,^a

escorted by sixty of the mightiest men of Israel.

⁷Behold, it is the couch of Solomon! Sixty mighty men are around it, the mighty ones of Israel.

⁸All are skilled with the sword,

experienced in warfare.

Each has his sword at his side

prepared for the terror of the night.

⁸All of them are grasping a sword, studied in warfare; each man has his sword upon his thigh, against the dread in the nights.

⁹King Solomon has made his carriage

out of the timber of Lebanon.

⁹King Solomon has made a carriage for himself from the trees of the Lebanon.

¹⁰He has made its posts of silver,

its base of gold, its seat of purple fabric.

Its interior is inlaid with love

by the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹⁰Its pillars He has made of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; its midst is inlaid with love, by the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹¹Come out, O daughters of Zion,

and gaze at King Solomon,

wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him

on the day of his wedding—

the day of his heart’s rejoicing.

¹¹Go forth and gaze, O daughters of Zion, at King Solomon, at the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the joy of his heart.