Song of Solomon 3

¹On my bed in the night, I sought him whom my ⌞heart⌟ loves. I sought him, but I did not find him. ²Now I will arise, and I will go about in the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my ⌞heart⌟ loves. I sought him, but I did not find him. ³The sentinels who go about in the city found me. “Have you seen the one whom my ⌞heart⌟ loves?” ⁴⌞Scarcely had I passed⌟ by them when I found him whom my ⌞heart⌟ loves. I held him and I would not let him go until I brought him to the house of my mother, into the bedroom chamber of she who conceived me. ⁵I adjure you, ⌞O maidens of Jerusalem⌟, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases! ⁶What is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense from all the fragrant powders of the merchant? ⁷Look! It is Solomon’s ⌞portable couch⌟! Sixty mighty men surround ⌞it⌟, the mighty men of Israel. ⁸All of them ⌞wield swords⌟; they are ⌞trained in warfare⌟, each with his sword at his thigh to guard ⌞against terror⌟ in the night. ⁹⌞King Solomon⌟ made for himself a sedan chair from the wood of Lebanon. ¹⁰He made its column of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; its interior is inlaid with leather by ⌞the maidens of Jerusalem⌟. ¹¹Come out and look, ⌞O maidens 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 joy of his heart!