| Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1I have come to my garden--my sister, my bride. I gather my myrrh with my spices. I eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink my wine with my milk. Narrator Eat, friends! Drink, be intoxicated with caresses! | 1I have entered my garden, my treasure, my bride! I gather myrrh with my spices and eat honeycomb with my honey. I drink wine with my milk. Young Women of Jerusalem Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink! Yes, drink deeply of your love! Young Woman |
| 2I was sleeping, but my heart was awake. A sound! My love was knocking! Man 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. | 2I slept, but my heart was awake, when I heard my lover knocking and calling: “Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” |
| 3I have taken off my clothing. How can I put it back on? I have washed my feet. How can I get them dirty? | 3But I responded, “I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?” |
| 4My love thrust his hand through the opening, and my feelings were stirred for him. | 4My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled within me. |
| 5I rose to open for my love. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt. | 5I jumped up to open the door for my love, and my hands dripped with perfume. My fingers dripped with lovely myrrh as I pulled back the bolt. |
| 6I opened to my love, but my love had turned and gone away. My heart sank because he had left. I sought him, but did not find him. I called him, but he did not answer. | 6I opened to my lover, but he was gone! My heart sank. I searched for him but could not find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply. |
| 7The guards who go about the city found me. They beat and wounded me; they took my cloak from me--the guardians of the walls. | 7The night watchmen found me as they made their rounds. They beat and bruised me and stripped off my veil, those watchmen on the walls. |
| 8Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you, if you find my love, tell him that I am lovesick. | 8Make this promise, O women of Jerusalem— If you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love. Young Women of Jerusalem |
| 9What makes the one you love better than another, most beautiful of women? What makes him better than another, that you would give us this charge? | 9Why is your lover better than all others, O woman of rare beauty? What makes your lover so special that we must promise this? Young Woman |
| 10My love is fit and strong, notable among ten thousand. | 10My lover is dark and dazzling, better than ten thousand others! |
| 11His head is purest gold. His hair is wavy and black as a raven. | 11His head is finest gold, his wavy hair is black as a raven. |
| 12His eyes are like doves beside flowing streams, washed in milk and set like jewels. | 12His eyes sparkle like doves beside springs of water; they are set like jewels washed in milk. |
| 13His cheeks are like beds of spice, mounds of perfume. His lips are lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh. | 13His cheeks are like gardens of spices giving off fragrance. His lips are like lilies, perfumed with myrrh. |
| 14His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is an ivory panel covered with lapis lazuli. | 14His arms are like rounded bars of gold, set with beryl. His body is like bright ivory, glowing with lapis lazuli. |
| 15His legs are alabaster pillars set on pedestals of pure gold. His presence is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars. | 15His legs are like marble pillars set in sockets of finest gold. His posture is stately, like the noble cedars of Lebanon. |
| 16His mouth is sweetness. He is absolutely desirable. This is my love, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem. | 16His mouth is sweetness itself; he is desirable in every way. Such, O women of Jerusalem, is my lover, my friend. |
| The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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