Study Desk

He

How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil^(a) are doves.^(b) Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from the hills of Gilead.^(c)

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing. Each has its twin; not one of them is alone.^(d)

Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth^(e) is lovely.^(f) Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.^(g)

Your neck is like the tower^(h) of David, built with courses of stone^[a]; on it hang a thousand shields,⁽ⁱ⁾ all of them shields of warriors.

Your breasts^(j) are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle^(k) that browse among the lilies.^(l)

Until the day breaks and the shadows flee,^(m) I will go to the mountain of myrrh⁽ⁿ⁾ and to the hill of incense.

You are altogether beautiful,^(o) my darling; there is no flaw^(p) in you.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,^(q) come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir,^(r) the summit of Hermon,^(s) from the lions' dens and the mountain haunts of leopards.

You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;^(t) you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.^(u)

How delightful^(v) is your love^(w), my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine,^(x) and the fragrance of your perfume^(y) more than any spice!

Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue.^(z) The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.^(aa)

You are a garden^(ab) locked up, my sister, my bride;^(ac) you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.^(ad)

Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates^(ae) with choice fruits, with henna^(af) and nard,

nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,^(ag) with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh^(ah) and aloes^(ai) and all the finest spices.^(aj)

You are^[b] a garden^(ak) fountain,^(al) a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon.

She

Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden,^(am) that its fragrance^(an) may spread everywhere. Let my beloved^(ao) come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.^(ap)

He

I have come into my garden,^(a) my sister, my bride;^(b) I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk.^(c)

Friends

Eat, friends, and drink; drink your fill of love.

She

I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: "Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove,^(d) my flawless^(e) one.^(f) My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night."

I have taken off my robe— must I put it on again? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again?

My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him.

I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh,^(g) my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.

I opened for my beloved,^(h) but my beloved had left; he was gone.⁽ⁱ⁾ My heart sank at his departure.^[a] I looked^(j) for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer.

The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city.^(k) They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls!

Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you^(l)— if you find my beloved,^(m) what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.⁽ⁿ⁾

Friends

How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women?^(o) How is your beloved better than others, that you so charge us?

She

My beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.^(p)

His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves^(q) by the water streams, washed in milk,^(r) mounted like jewels.

His cheeks^(s) are like beds of spice^(t) yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies^(u) dripping with myrrh.^(v)

His arms are rods of gold set with topaz. His body is like polished ivory decorated with lapis lazuli.^(w)

His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon,^(x) choice as its cedars.

His mouth^(y) is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved,^(z) this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.^(aa)