1 Upon my bed {mishkavi: resting place} in the nights, I sought whom my soul loves; I sought him, but I did not find him {metsativ: located him}.
2 Let me arise now and go about in the city, in the streets and in the squares {rechovot: broad places}; let me seek the one whom my soul {nephesh: life-essence} loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.
3 The watchmen {shomrim: guardians} who go about in the city found me. “Have you seen the one whom my soul {nefesh: life essence} loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed from them until I found him whom my soul {nafshi: inner being} loves. I held him and would not let him go until I brought him to the house of my mother and into the chamber of her who conceived me {horati: birth-giver}.
5 I adjure you, O daughters {benot: young women} of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, that you do not arouse {ta‘iru: stir emotionally} or awaken love until it desires.
6 Who is this coming up from the wilderness like pillars {timarot: pillar-like mounds} of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, from all the powder of the merchant {rochel: traveling trader}.
7 Behold, the bed of Solomon {shlomoh: royal bridegroom}; sixty mighty men surround it from among the mighty men of Israel {yisrael: covenant nation}.
8 All of them are sword-bearers {ahuzei: wielders of swords}, trained in battle {melummedey: skilled in war}; each man has his sword upon his thigh from fear in the nights.
9 King Solomon made for himself a palanquin {apiryon: royal litter} out of the wood of Lebanon {levanon: cedar region}.
10 He made its pillars of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple {argaman: royal dye}, and its interior paved with love from the daughters of Jerusalem {Yerushalayim: city of peace}.
11 Go out, O daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon, at the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding {chatunato: marriage ceremony}, and on the day of the joy of his heart {libbo: innermost being}.