Study Desk

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)

Friends

Where has your beloved^(a) gone, most beautiful of women?^(b) Which way did your beloved turn, that we may look for him with you?

She

My beloved has gone^(c) down to his garden,^(d) to the beds of spices,^(e) to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies.

I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;^(f) he browses among the lilies.^(g)

He

You are as beautiful as Tirzah,^(h) my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem,⁽ⁱ⁾ as majestic as troops with banners.^(j)

Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead.^(k)

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is missing.^(l)

Your temples behind your veil^(m) are like the halves of a pomegranate.⁽ⁿ⁾

Sixty queens^(o) there may be, and eighty concubines,^(p) and virgins beyond number;

but my dove,^(q) my perfect one,^(r) is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her.^(s) The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her.

Friends

Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?

He

I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom.^(t)

Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.^[a]

Friends

Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!

He

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance^(u) of Mahanaim?^[b]