1.5 KiB
Chapter 3
- One night as I lay in bed, I yearned for my lover.
I yearned for him, but he did not come.
- So I said to myself, "I will get up and roam the city,
searching in all its streets and squares.
I will search for the one I love."
So I searched everywhere but did not find him.
- The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds,
and I asked, "Have you seen the one I love?"
- Then scarcely had I left them
when I found my love! I caught and held him tightly,
then I brought him to my mother's house,
into my mother's bed, where I had been conceived.
- Promise me, O women of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles and wild deer, not to awaken love until the time is right.
- Who is this sweeping in from the wilderness
like a cloud of smoke? Who is it, fragrant with myrrh and frankincense
and every kind of spice?
- Look, it is Solomon's carriage,
surrounded by sixty heroic men,
the best of Israel's soldiers.
- They are all skilled swordsmen,
experienced warriors.
Each wears a sword on his thigh,
ready to defend the king against an attack in the night.
- King Solomon's carriage is built
of wood imported from Lebanon.
- Its posts are silver,
its canopy gold;
its cushions are purple.
It was decorated with love
by the young women of Jerusalem.
- Come out to see King Solomon, young women of Jerusalem.
He wears the crown his mother gave him on his wedding day,
his most joyous day.