Song of Solomon 5

¹I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride.

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

I have drunk my wine with my milk.

Eat, friends!

Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.

²I was asleep, but my heart was awake.

It is the voice of my beloved who knocks:

“Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled;

for my head is filled with dew,

and my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on?

I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?

⁴My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening.

My heart pounded for him.

⁵I rose up to open for my beloved.

My hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh,

on the handles of the lock.

⁶I opened to my beloved;

but my beloved left, and had gone away.

My heart went out when he spoke.

I looked for him, but I didn’t find him.

I called him, but he didn’t answer.

⁷The watchmen who go about the city found me.

They beat me.

They bruised me.

The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.

⁸I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

If you find my beloved,

that you tell him that I am faint with love.

⁹How is your beloved better than another beloved,

you fairest amongst women?

How is your beloved better than another beloved,

that you do so adjure us?

¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy.

The best amongst ten thousand.

¹¹His head is like the purest gold.

His hair is bushy, black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks,

washed with milk, mounted like jewels.

¹³His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes.

His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

¹⁴His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl.

His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.

¹⁵His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

¹⁶His mouth is sweetness;

yes, he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,

daughters of Jerusalem.