| New Living Translation | King James Bible |
| 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 | 1I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. |
| 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.” | 2I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. |
| 3But I responded, “I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?” | 3I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? |
| 4My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled within me. | 4My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. |
| 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. | 5I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. |
| 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. | 6I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. |
| 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. | 7The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. |
| 8Make this promise, O women of Jerusalem— If you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love. Young Women of Jerusalem | 8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. |
| 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 | 9What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? |
| 10My lover is dark and dazzling, better than ten thousand others! | 10My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. |
| 11His head is finest gold, his wavy hair is black as a raven. | 11His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. |
| 12His eyes sparkle like doves beside springs of water; they are set like jewels washed in milk. | 12His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. |
| 13His cheeks are like gardens of spices giving off fragrance. His lips are like lilies, perfumed with myrrh. | 13His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. |
| 14His arms are like rounded bars of gold, set with beryl. His body is like bright ivory, glowing with lapis lazuli. | 14His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. |
| 15His legs are like marble pillars set in sockets of finest gold. His posture is stately, like the noble cedars of Lebanon. | 15His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. |
| 16His mouth is sweetness itself; he is desirable in every way. Such, O women of Jerusalem, is my lover, my friend. | 16His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. |
| 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. | King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. |
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