| King James Bible | NET Bible |
| 1By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. | 1All night long on my bed I longed for my lover. I longed for him but he never appeared. |
| 2I 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"I will arise and look all around throughout the town, and throughout the streets and squares; I will search for my beloved." I searched for him but I did not find him. |
| 3The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? | 3The night watchmen found me--the ones who guard the city walls. "Have you seen my beloved?" |
| 4It was but a little that I passed from them, but 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. | 4Scarcely had I passed them by when I found my beloved! I held onto him tightly and would not let him go until I brought him to my mother's house, to the bedroom chamber of the one who conceived me. |
| 5I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. | 5I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields: "Do not awake or arouse love until it pleases!" |
| 6Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? | 6Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, like a fragrant billow of myrrh and frankincense, every kind of fragrant powder of the traveling merchants? |
| 7Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. | 7Look! It is Solomon's portable couch! It is surrounded by sixty warriors, some of Israel's mightiest warriors. |
| 8They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. | 8All of them are skilled with a sword, well-trained in the art of warfare. Each has his sword at his side, to guard against the terrors of the night. |
| 9King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. | 9King Solomon made a sedan chair for himself of wood imported from Lebanon. |
| 10He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. | 10Its posts were made of silver; its back was made of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple wool; its interior was inlaid with leather by the maidens of Jerusalem. |
| 11Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart. | 11Come out, O maidens of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon! He is wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, on the most joyous day of his life! |
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