| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love! | 1I have entered my garden, my treasure, my bride! I gather myrrh with my spices and eat honeycomb with my honey. I drink wine with my milk. Young Women of Jerusalem Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink! Yes, drink deeply of your love! Young Woman |
| 2I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” | 2I slept, but my heart was awake, when I heard my lover knocking and calling: “Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” |
| 3I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them? | 3But I responded, “I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?” |
| 4My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me. | 4My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled within me. |
| 5I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt. | 5I jumped up to open the door for my love, and my hands dripped with perfume. My fingers dripped with lovely myrrh as I pulled back the bolt. |
| 6I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer. | 6I opened to my lover, but he was gone! My heart sank. I searched for him but could not find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply. |
| 7The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls. | 7The night watchmen found me as they made their rounds. They beat and bruised me and stripped off my veil, those watchmen on the walls. |
| 8I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love. | 8Make this promise, O women of Jerusalem— If you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love. Young Women of Jerusalem |
| 9What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us? | 9Why is your lover better than all others, O woman of rare beauty? What makes your lover so special that we must promise this? Young Woman |
| 10My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand. | 10My lover is dark and dazzling, better than ten thousand others! |
| 11His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven. | 11His head is finest gold, his wavy hair is black as a raven. |
| 12His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool. | 12His eyes sparkle like doves beside springs of water; they are set like jewels washed in milk. |
| 13His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh. | 13His cheeks are like gardens of spices giving off fragrance. His lips are like lilies, perfumed with myrrh. |
| 14His arms are rods of gold, set with jewels. His body is polished ivory, bedecked with sapphires. | 14His arms are like rounded bars of gold, set with beryl. His body is like bright ivory, glowing with lapis lazuli. |
| 15His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars. | 15His legs are like marble pillars set in sockets of finest gold. His posture is stately, like the noble cedars of Lebanon. |
| 16His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. | 16His mouth is sweetness itself; he is desirable in every way. Such, O women of Jerusalem, is my lover, my friend. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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