Study Desk

All night long on my bed I looked^(a) for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him.

I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him.

The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city.^(b) "Have you seen the one my heart loves?"

Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother's house,^(c) to the room of the one who conceived me.^(d)

Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you^(e) by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.^(f)

Who is this coming up from the wilderness^(g) like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh^(h) and incense made from all the spices⁽ⁱ⁾ of the merchant?

Look! It is Solomon's carriage, escorted by sixty warriors,^(j) the noblest of Israel,

all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night.^(k)

King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of wood from Lebanon.

Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple, its interior inlaid with love. Daughters of Jerusalem,

¹¹come out, and look, you daughters of Zion.^(l) Look^[a] on King Solomon wearing a crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.^(m)