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

2 I will rise now and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loves; I sought him but I found him not.

3 The watchmen that go about the city found me; I asked them, Have you seen him whom my soul loves?

4 Scarcely had I passed by 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 that bore me.

5 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the young roes of the field, that you stir not up nor awake my love till it please.

6 Who is this that comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, compounded from all kinds of powdered sweet spices?

7 Behold, the litter of Solomon is surrounded by sixty mighty men of the valiant of Israel.

8 They all hold swords, being expert in war; every man has his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

9 King Solomon made himself a palace of wood of Lebanon.

10 He made its pillars of silver, the floor thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the inside thereof being paved with a love gift from the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Go forth, O you daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him in the day of his wedding and in the day of the joy of his heart.