3 On my bed ^(A)by night
I sought ^(B)him whom my soul loves;
    ^(C)I sought him, but found him not.
² I will rise now and go about the city,
    in ^(D)the streets and in the squares;
I will seek ^(E)him whom my soul loves.
    I sought him, but found him not.
^3 (F)The watchmen found me
    as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
⁴ Scarcely had I passed them
    when I found ^(G)him whom my soul loves.
I ^(H)held him, and would not let him go
    until I had ^(I)brought him into my mother's house,
    and into the chamber of ^(J)her who conceived me.
^5 (K)I adjure you, ^(L)O daughters of Jerusalem,
    ^(M)by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

^6 (N)What is that coming up from the wilderness
    like ^(O)columns of smoke,
perfumed with ^(P)myrrh and frankincense,
    with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
⁷ Behold, it is the litter^[a] of Solomon!
Around it are ^(Q)sixty ^(R)mighty men,
    some of the mighty men of Israel,
⁸ all of them wearing swords
    and expert in war,
each with his ^(S)sword at his thigh,
    against ^(T)terror by night.
⁹ King Solomon made himself a carriage^[b]
    from the wood of Lebanon.
¹⁰ He made its posts of silver,
    its back of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love
    by ^(U)the daughters of Jerusalem.
¹¹ Go out, O ^(V)daughters of Zion,
    and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
    on ^(W)the day of his wedding,
    on the day of the gladness of his heart.