Song of Songs 5

The Bride and Her Beloved

The Bridegroom

¹ I have come to 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.

The Friends

Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.

The Bride

² I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³ I have taken off my robe— must I put it back on? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again? ⁴ My beloved put his hand to the latch; my heart pounded for him. ⁵ I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt. ⁶ I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him, but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer.

⁷ I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city. They beat me and bruised me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls. ⁸ O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

The Friends

⁹ How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?

The Bride

¹⁰ My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. ¹¹ His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven. ¹² His eyes are like doves beside the streams of water, bathed in milk and mounted like jewels. ¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh. ¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is an ivory panel bedecked with sapphires. ¹⁵ His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars. ¹⁶ His mouth^a is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.