Song of Songs

The Song of Solomon, chapter 3, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 3 New English Translation

The Lost Lover is Found

   1 (The Beloved about Her Lover) All night long on my bed I longed for my lover. I longed for him but he never appeared.
   2 "I will arise and look all around throughout the town, and throughout the streets and squares; I will search for my beloved." I searched for him but I did not find him.
   3 The night watchmen found me - the ones who guard the city walls. "Have you seen my beloved?"
   4 Scarcely had I passed them bywhen I found my beloved! I held onto him tightly and would not let him go until I brought him to my mother's house, to the bedroom chamber of the one who conceived me.

The Adjuration Refrain

   5 (The Beloved to the Maidens) I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields: "Do not awake or arouse love until it pleases!"

The Royal Wedding Procession

   6 (The Speaker) Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, like a fragrant billow of myrrh and frankincense, every kind of fragrant powder of the traveling merchants?
   7 Look! It is Solomon's portable couch! It is surrounded by sixty warriors, some of Israel's mightiest warriors.
   8 All of them are skilled with a sword, well-trained in the art of warfare. Each has his sword at his side, to guard against the terrors of the night.
   9 King Solomon made a sedan chair for himself of wood imported from Lebanon.
   10 Its posts were made of silver; its back was made of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple wool; its interior was inlaid with leather by the maidens of Jerusalem.
   11 Come out, O maidens of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon! He is wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, on the most joyous day of his life!

King James Version

   1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
   2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
   3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
   4 It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
   5 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
   6 ¶ Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
   7 Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.
   8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.
   9 King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.
   10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.
   11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.