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Beautiful Dreams

She Speaks:

While in bed at night,
I reached for the one I love
    with heart and soul.
I looked for him,
    but he wasn't there.
So I searched through the town
    for the one I love.
I looked on every street,
    but he wasn't there.
I even asked the guards
    patrolling the town,
“Have you seen the one
    I love so much?”
Right after that, I found him.
I held him and would not let go
    until I had taken him
    to the home of my mother.
Young women of Jerusalem,
promise me by the power
    of deer and gazelles,[a]
never to awaken love
    before it is ready.

The Groom and the Wedding Party

Their Friends Speak:

What do we see approaching
from the desert
    like a cloud of smoke?
With it comes the sweet smell
of spices, including myrrh
    and frankincense.
It is King Solomon
    carried on a throne,
surrounded by sixty
    of Israel's best soldiers.
Each of them wears a sword.
They are experts at fighting,
    even in the dark.
The throne is made of trees
    from Lebanon.
10 Its posts are silver,
    the back is gold,
and the seat is covered
    with purple cloth.
You women of Jerusalem
have taken great care
    to furnish the inside.[b]
11 Now come and see the crown
given to Solomon by his mother
    on his happy wedding day.

Footnotes

  1. 3.5 deer and gazelles: See the note at 2.7.
  2. 3.10 inside: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

All night long on my bed
    I looked(A) for the one my heart loves;
    I looked for him but did not find him.
I will get up now and go about the city,
    through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
    So I looked for him but did not find him.
The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.(B)
    “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
Scarcely had I passed them
    when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
    till I had brought him to my mother’s house,(C)
    to the room of the one who conceived me.(D)
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you(E)
    by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.(F)

Who is this coming up from the wilderness(G)
    like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh(H) and incense
    made from all the spices(I) of the merchant?
Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,
    escorted by sixty warriors,(J)
    the noblest of Israel,
all of them wearing the sword,
    all experienced in battle,
each with his sword at his side,
    prepared for the terrors of the night.(K)
King Solomon made for himself the carriage;
    he made it of wood from Lebanon.
10 Its posts he made of silver,
    its base of gold.
Its seat was upholstered with purple,
    its interior inlaid with love.
Daughters of Jerusalem, 11 come out,
    and look, you daughters of Zion.(L)
Look[a] on King Solomon wearing a crown,
    the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
    the day his heart rejoiced.(M)

Footnotes

  1. Song of Songs 3:11 Or interior lovingly inlaid / by the daughters of Jerusalem. / 11 Come out, you daughters of Zion, / and look