CH. I.

14 A cluster of cypress is my beloved unto me, [Such as is] in the vineyards of En-gedi.

SECTION III. [2d Morning.]

BRIDEGROOM.

15 Behold thou art beautiful, my consort: Behold thou art beautiful! thine eyes are

doves.

SPOUSE.

16 Behold thou art beautiful, my beloved; yea pleasant,

Yea verdant is our carpet.

BRIDEGROOM.

17 Cedars are the roof of our house, And the Brutine trees our rafters.

I am a rose of Sharon;
A lily of the vallies.

BRIDEGROOM.

2 As a lily among thorns,

So is my consort among the daughters.

SPOUSE.

3 As a citron tree among the trees of the

wood,

So is my beloved among the sons.

In his shade I delighted and sat down, And, his fruit was sweet unto my taste. 4 He brought me into the house of wine, And his banner over me was love.

5 Support me with refreshments;

• Strew citrons round me,

'For I am sick of love.'

6 His left hand was under my head, And his right hand embraced me,

CH. II.

7 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, Before the antelopes, and before the hinds of the field,

That ye disturb not, nor awake
This lovely one until she please.

SECTION IV. [2d Evening.]

SPOUSE.

8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh Leaping on the mountains, bounding on the hills.

9 My beloved resembles an antelope, or a young hart.

Behold him standing behind our wall;
Looking through the windows;

Displaying himself through the lattice work. 10 My beloved answers, and speaks to me:

BRIDEGROOM.

Arise, my consort, my beauty, and come away,

11 For behold! the winter is past;

The rain is over-is gone.

12 The flowers appear upon the earth;

The time of the singing [of birds] is come; The voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;

13 The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs; The vines [with] their tender buds yield fragrancy.

Arise, my consort, my beauty, and come away!

14 My Dove [who art] in the clefts of the rock, In the secret fissures of the cliffs,

CH. II.

Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice,

For sweet is thy voice, and thy counte-nance is comely.

VIRGINS.

[To the friends of the Bridegroom.] 15 Take for us the foxes,

The little foxes that spoil our vines,
For our vines have tender buds.

SPOUSE.

16 My beloved is mine, and I am his; He feedeth among the lilies.

17 Until the day breathe, and the shades flee

away,

Return my beloved, and be unto me
Like an antelope, or a young hart,
Upon the craggy mountains.

CH. III.

2

SECTION V. [3d Morning.]

SPOUSE.

Upon my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth:

6

I sought him, but I found him not.

will arise 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, who go round the city, found me:

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Have ye seen him whom my soul loveth?' 4 Scarcely had I passed from them,

When I found him whom my soul loveth:
I held him, and would not let him go,

CB. III.

Until I had brought him to my mother's house,

To the apartment of her who bore me. 5 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the antelopes, and by the hinds of the field,

6

6 What is this rising from the wilderness, like columns of smoke,

Fuming with myrrh, and frankincense, More [precious] than all the powders of the merchant?

SECOND VIRGIN.

7 Behold! Solomon's own palanquin! Threescore warriors surround it, the warriors of Israel,

8 Every one having a sword, being skilled in

war;

his thigh,

Each [with] his sword upon
Because of danger in the night.

FIRST VIRGIN.

9 A carriage hath he made for himself, [Even] Solomon the king, of the wood of

Lebanon.

10 The pillars thereof hath he made of silver;
Its carpet of gold,-its seat of purple:
The midst thereof being lined with love,
By the daughters of Jerusalem.

CH. III.

SECOND VIRGIN.

11 Go forth, ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon

In the crown wherewith his mother crowned him

In the day of his espousals,

In the day of the gladness of his heart.

CH. IV.

SECTION VII. [4th Morning.]

BRIDEGROOM.

Behold thou art beautiful, my consort;
Behold thou art beautiful!

Thine eyes are doves, behind thy veil,
Thy hair is like a flock of goats,

Which come up sleek from [mount] Gilead. 2 Thy teeth are like a flock [newly] shorn, Which ascend from the washing.

All of them bearing twins,

And none of them miscarrying.

3 Like a brede of scarlet are thy lips, And thy speech is agreeable.

Like the flower of the pomegranate Are thy cheeks, behind thy veil. 4 Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armory;

A thousand bucklers hang thereon,
All shields of mighty men.

5 Thy two breasts are like twin fawns of the antelope,

Feeding among the lilies.

6 Until the day breathe, and the shades flee

away,

I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, [And] to the hill of frankincense.