Study Desk

M How beautiful you are, my darling. How very beautiful! Behind your veil, your eyes are doves.^(a) Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.^(b)

Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep coming up from washing, each one having a twin, and not one missing.^[a](c)

Your lips are like a scarlet cord,^(d) and your mouth^[b] is lovely. Behind your veil, your brow^[c] is like a slice of pomegranate.^(e)

Your neck is like the tower of David,^(f) constructed in layers. A thousand bucklers are hung on it— all of them shields of warriors.^[d]

Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle,^(g) that feed among the lilies.

Before the day breaks^[e] and the shadows flee,^(h) I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.⁽ⁱ⁾

You are absolutely beautiful,^(j) my darling, with no imperfection in you.

Come with me from Lebanon,^[f](k) my bride^(l)— with me from Lebanon! Descend from the peak of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon,^(m) from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.

You have captured my heart,⁽ⁿ⁾ my sister,^[g](o) my bride. You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.

How delightful your love is, my sister, my bride. Your love is much better than wine,^(p) and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.

Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride.^(q) Honey and milk^(r) are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden— a locked garden^[h] and a sealed spring.^(s)

Your branches are a paradise^[i] of pomegranates with choicest fruits,^(t) henna with nard—

nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,^(u) with all the trees of frankincense,^(v) myrrh and aloes,^(w) with all the best spices.

You are a garden spring, a well of flowing water^(x) streaming from Lebanon.

W Awaken,^(y) north wind— come, south wind. Blow on my garden, and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my love come to his garden and eat its choicest fruits.^(z)

M I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride. I gather^[a] my myrrh with my spices. I eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink my wine with my milk. N Eat, friends! Drink, be intoxicated with love!^[b](a)

W I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My love is knocking!^(b) M Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. For my head is drenched with dew, my hair with droplets of the night.

W I have taken off my clothing.^(c) How can I put it back on? I have washed my feet. How can I get them dirty?

My love thrust his hand through the opening, and my feelings were stirred for him.

I rose to open for my love. My hands dripped with myrrh,^(d) my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt.

I opened to my love, but my love had turned and gone away. I was crushed^[c] that he had left.^[d] I sought him, but did not find him.^(e) I called him, but he did not answer.

The guards who go about the city found me.^(f) They beat and wounded me; they took my cloak^[e] from me— the guardians of the walls.^(g)

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:^(h) if you find my love, tell him that I am lovesick.⁽ⁱ⁾

Y What makes the one you love better than another, most beautiful of women?^(j) What makes him better than another, that you would give us this charge?

W My love is fit and strong,^[f](k) notable among ten thousand.^(l)

His head is purest gold. His hair is wavy^[g](m) and black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves⁽ⁿ⁾ beside streams of water, washed in milk and set like jewels.^[h]

His cheeks^(o) are like beds of spice, towers of^[i] perfume. His lips are lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.^(p)

His arms^[j] are rods of gold set^[k] with topaz.^[l](q) His body^[m] is an ivory panel covered with sapphires.^(r)

His legs are alabaster pillars set on pedestals of pure gold. His presence is like Lebanon,^(s) as majestic as the cedars.^(t)

His mouth is sweetness. He is absolutely desirable.^(u) This is my love, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem.