1By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not.

2I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not.

3The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw you him whom my soul loves?

4It was but a little after I passed by them, when I found him whom my soul loves: 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.

5I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you stir not up, nor awake my love, till it pleases.

6Who is this that comes out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

7Behold the couch, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

8They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man has his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

9King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

10He made its posts of silver, its base of gold, the covering of its seat of purple, its interior being paved with love, by the daughters of Jerusalem.

11Go forth, O you daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the gladness of his heart.