1M I 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.
N Eat, friends!
Drink, be intoxicated with love!b, c
W 2I sleep, but my heart is awake.
A sound! My love is knocking!d
M 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.
W 3I have taken off my clothing.e
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,f
my fingers with flowing myrrh
on the handles of the bolt.
6I opened to my love,
but my love had turned and gone away.
I was crushedg that he had left.h
I sought him, but did not find him.i
I called him, but he did not answer.
7The guards who go about the city found me.j
They beat and wounded me;
they took my cloakk from me —
the guardians of the walls.l
8Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:m
if you find my love,
tell him that I am lovesick.n
Y 9What makes the one you love better than another,
most beautiful of women?o
What makes him better than another,
that you would give us this charge?
W 10My love is fit and strong,p, q
notable among ten thousand.r
11His head is purest gold.
His hair is wavys, t
and black as a raven.
12His eyes are like dovesu
beside streams of water,
washed in milk
and set like jewels.v
13His cheeksw are like beds of spice,
towers ofx perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.y
14His armsz are rods of gold
setaa with topaz.ab, ac
His bodyad is an ivory panel
covered with sapphires.ae
15His legs are alabaster pillars
set on pedestals of pure gold.
His presence is like Lebanon,af
as majestic as the cedars.ag
16His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.ah
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
a. 5:1 Lit pluck
b. 5:1 Or Drink your fill, lovers
c. 5:1 Pr 5:19
d. 5:2 Sg 2:8
e. 5:3 Lk 11:7
f. 5:5 Sg 5:13
g. 5:6 Lit My soul went out
h. 5:6 Or spoken
i. 5:6 Sg 3:1-2
j. 5:7 Sg 3:3
k. 5:7 Or veil, or shawl
l. 5:7 Sg 8:9-10
m. 5:8 Sg 2:7; 3:5; 8:4
n. 5:8 Sg 2:5
o. 5:9 Sg 1:8; 6:1
p. 5:10 Or is radiant and ruddy
q. 5:10 1Sm 16:12
r. 5:10 Ps 45:2
s. 5:11 Or is like&dprbrk; palm leaves ; Hb obscure
t. 5:11 Sg 5:2
u. 5:12 Sg 1:15; 4:1
v. 5:12 Lit milk sitting in fullness
w. 5:13 Sg 1:10
x. 5:13 LXX, Vg read spice, yielding
y. 5:13 Sg 5:5
z. 5:14 Lit hands
aa. 5:14 Lit filled ; Sg 5:2,12
ab. 5:14 Probably yellow topaz
ac. 5:14 Ex 28:20; 39:13; Ezk 1:16
ad. 5:14 Lit abdomen
ae. 5:14 Ex 24:10
af. 5:15 Sg 7:4-5
ag. 5:15 1Kg 4:33
ah. 5:16 Sg 4:7
