Song of Solomon 3

¹On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves ; I sought him, but found him not .

²I 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 watchmen 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 had brought him into my mother’s house , and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

⁵I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem , by the gazelles or the does of the field , that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases .

⁶What is that coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke , perfumed with myrrh and frankincense , with all the fragrant powders of a merchant ?

⁷Behold , it is the litter of Solomon ! Around it are sixty mighty men , some of the mighty men of Israel ,

⁸all of them wearing swords and expert in war , each with his sword at his thigh , against terror by night .

⁹King Solomon made himself a carriage 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 by the daughters of Jerusalem .

¹¹Go out , O daughters of Zion , and look upon King Solomon , with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding , on the day of the gladness of his heart .