Read Song of Solomon 5

Song of Solomon5

The Bride and Her Beloved

The Bridegroom

¹I 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

²I 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.”

³I have taken off my robe—must I put it back on?I have washed my feet—must I soil them again?⁴My beloved put his hand to the latch;my heart pounded for him.⁵I rose up to open for my beloved.My hands dripped with myrrh,my fingers with flowing myrrhon the handles of the bolt.⁶I 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.

⁷I 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.⁸O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you,if you find my beloved,tell him I am sick with love.

The Friends

⁹How 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

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