Study Desk

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.

Y Where has your love gone, most beautiful of women? Which way has he^[a] turned? We will seek him with you.

W My love has gone down to his garden,^(a) to beds of spice,^(b) to feed in the gardens^(c) and gather lilies.^(d)

I am my love's and my love is mine;^(e) he feeds among the lilies.

M You are as beautiful as Tirzah,^[b] my darling, lovely as Jerusalem, awe-inspiring as an army with banners.^(f)

Turn your eyes away from me, for they captivate me.^(g) Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.^(h)

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

Behind your veil,^(j) your brow^[d] is like a slice of pomegranate.

There are 60 queens and 80 concubines^(k) and young women^[e] without number.

But my dove,^(l) my virtuous one, is unique;^(m) she is the favorite of her mother, perfect to the one who gave her birth. Women see her and declare her fortunate;⁽ⁿ⁾ queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:

Y ^[f] Who is this^[g](o) who shines like the dawn— as beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awe-inspiring as an army with banners?^(p)

W I came down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding^(q) and the pomegranates blooming.

Before I knew it, my desire put me among the chariots of my noble people.^[h]

^[i] Y Come back, come back, Shulammite!^[j][k] Come back, come back, that we may look at you! M Why are you looking at the Shulammite, as you look at the dance^(r) of the two camps?^[l](s)