Song of Songs 5-8

New International Version

5 I have come into my garden,^(A) my sister, my bride;^(B)
    I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
    I have drunk my wine and my milk.^(C)

Eat, friends, and drink;
    drink your fill of love.

² I slept but my heart was awake.
    Listen! My beloved is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
    my dove,^(D) my flawless^(E) one.^(F)
My head is drenched with dew,
    my hair with the dampness of the night.”
³ I have taken off my robe—
    must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
    must I soil them again?
⁴ My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
    my heart began to pound for him.
⁵ I arose to open for my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,^(G)
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened for my beloved,^(H)
    but my beloved had left; he was gone.^(I)
    My heart sank at his departure.^[a]
I looked^(J) for him but did not find him.
    I called him but he did not answer.
⁷ The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.^(K)
They beat me, they bruised me;
    they took away my cloak,
    those watchmen of the walls!
⁸ Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you^(L)—
    if you find my beloved,^(M)
what will you tell him?
    Tell him I am faint with love.^(N)

⁹ How is your beloved better than others,
    most beautiful of women?^(O)
How is your beloved better than others,
    that you so charge us?

¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
    outstanding among ten thousand.^(P)
11 His head is purest gold;
    his hair is wavy
    and black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves^(Q)
    by the water streams,
washed in milk,^(R)
    mounted like jewels.
¹³ His cheeks^(S) are like beds of spice^(T)
    yielding perfume.
His lips are like lilies^(U)
    dripping with myrrh.^(V)
14 His arms are rods of gold
    set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
    decorated with lapis lazuli.^(W)
15 His legs are pillars of marble
    set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,^(X)
    choice as its cedars.
¹⁶ His mouth^(Y) is sweetness itself;
    he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved,^(Z) this is my friend,
    daughters of Jerusalem.^(AA)

6 Where has your beloved^(AB) gone,
    most beautiful of women?^(AC)
Which way did your beloved turn,
    that we may look for him with you?

² My beloved has gone^(AD) down to his garden,^(AE)
    to the beds of spices,^(AF)
to browse in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.
³ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;^(AG)
    he browses among the lilies.^(AH)

⁴ You are as beautiful as Tirzah,^(AI) my darling,
    as lovely as Jerusalem,^(AJ)
    as majestic as troops with banners.^(AK)
5 Turn your eyes from me;
    they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from Gilead.^(AL)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
    not one of them is missing.^(AM)
7 Your temples behind your veil^(AN)
    are like the halves of a pomegranate.^(AO)
8 Sixty queens^(AP) there may be,
    and eighty concubines,^(AQ)
    and virgins beyond number;
⁹ but my dove,^(AR) my perfect one,^(AS) is unique,
    the only daughter of her mother,
    the favorite of the one who bore her.^(AT)
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    the queens and concubines praised her.

¹⁰ Who is this that appears like the dawn,
    fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
    majestic as the stars in procession?

¹¹ I went down to the grove of nut trees
    to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see if the vines had budded
    or the pomegranates were in bloom.^(AU)
12 Before I realized it,
    my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.^[b]

¹³ Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
    come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
    as on the dance^(AV) of Mahanaim?^[c]

May the wine go straight to my beloved,^(BG)
    flowing gently over lips and teeth.^[e]
10 I belong to my beloved,
    and his desire^(BH) is for me.^(BI)
11 Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
    let us spend the night in the villages.^[f]
12 Let us go early to the vineyards^(BJ)
    to see if the vines have budded,^(BK)
if their blossoms^(BL) have opened,
    and if the pomegranates^(BM) are in bloom^(BN)—
    there I will give you my love.
¹³ The mandrakes^(BO) send out their fragrance,
    and at our door is every delicacy,
both new and old,
    that I have stored up for you, my beloved.^(BP)

⁵ Who is this coming up from the wilderness^(BT)
    leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I roused you;
    there your mother conceived^(BU) you,
    there she who was in labor gave you birth.
⁶ Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love^(BV) is as strong as death,
    its jealousy^[g](BW) unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame.^[h]
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
    all the wealth of one’s house for love,
    it^[i] would be utterly scorned.^(BX)

⁸ We have a little sister,
    and her breasts are not yet grown.
What shall we do for our sister
    on the day she is spoken for?
⁹ If she is a wall,
    we will build towers of silver on her.
If she is a door,
    we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

¹⁰ I am a wall,
    and my breasts are like towers.
Thus I have become in his eyes
    like one bringing contentment.
¹¹ Solomon had a vineyard^(BY) in Baal Hamon;
    he let out his vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for its fruit
    a thousand shekels^[j](BZ) of silver.
¹² But my own vineyard^(CA) is mine to give;
    the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
    and two hundred^[k] are for those who tend its fruit.

¹³ You who dwell in the gardens
    with friends in attendance,
    let me hear your voice!

¹⁴ Come away, my beloved,
    and be like a gazelle^(CB)
or like a young stag^(CC)
    on the spice-laden mountains.^(CD)