The Bride’s Dream

¹ On my bed at night

I sought the one I love;

I sought him,

but did not find him.

² I will arise now and go about the city,

through the streets and squares.

I will seek the one I love.

So I sought him but did not find him.

³ I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city:

“Have you seen the one I love?”

⁴ I had just passed them when I found the one I love.

I held him and would not let go

until I had brought him to my mother’s house,

to the chamber of the one who conceived me.^*

⁵ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you

by the gazelles and does of the field:

Do not arouse or awaken love^*

until the time is right.

Solomon Arrives on His Wedding Day

⁶ Who is this coming up from the wilderness

like a column of smoke,

scented with myrrh and frankincense

from all the spices of the merchant?

⁷ Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage,^*

escorted by sixty of the mightiest men of Israel.

⁸ All are skilled with the sword,

experienced in warfare.

Each has his sword at his side

prepared for the terror of the night.

⁹ King Solomon has made his carriage

out of the timber of Lebanon.

¹⁰ He has made its posts of silver,

its base of gold, its seat of purple fabric.

Its interior is inlaid with love

by the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹¹ Come out, O daughters of Zion,

and gaze at King Solomon,

wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him

on the day of his wedding—

the day of his heart’s rejoicing.