1Upon my bed at night
    I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not;
    I called him, but he gave no answer.[a]
2“I will rise now and go about the city,
    in the streets and in the squares;
I will seek him whom my soul loves.”
    I sought him, but found him not.
3The sentinels found me,
    as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4Scarcely had I passed them,
    when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go
    until I brought him into my mother’s house,
    and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
5I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
    by the gazelles or the wild does:
do not stir up or awaken love
    until it is ready!

6What is that coming up from the wilderness,
    like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
    with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?
7Look, it is the litter of Solomon!
Around it are sixty mighty men
    of the mighty men of Israel,
8all equipped with swords
    and expert in war,
each with his sword at his thigh
    because of alarms by night.
9King Solomon made himself a palanquin
    from the wood of Lebanon.
10He made its posts of silver,
    its back of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love.[b]
    Daughters of Jerusalem,
11    come out.
Look, O daughters of Zion,
    at King Solomon,
at the crown with which his mother crowned him
    on the day of his wedding,
    on the day of the gladness of his heart.