Song 5 | LEB | STEP | I have come to my garden, my sister bride, I have gathered my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk! Eat, O friends! ⌞Drink and become drunk with love⌟ !

‏ Song of Solomon 5

1 I have come to my garden, my sister bride,
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice,
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,
I have drunk my wine with my milk!
Eat, O friends! ⌞Drink and become drunk with love⌟! ^{▼▼Or “Drink and become drunk, O lovers!”}

Maiden’s Dream: Seeking and Not Finding

2 I was asleep but ^{▼▼Or “and”} my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved knocking! ^{▼▼Or “The sound of my beloved knocking!”}
“Open to me, my sister, my beloved,
my dove, my perfect one!
For my head is full of dew,
⌞my hair drenched from the moist night air⌟.” ^{▼▼Literally “my locks with drops of night”}
3 I have taken off my tunic, ⌞must I put it on⌟? ^{▼▼Literally “How will I put it on?”}
I have bathed my feet, ⌞must I soil them⌟? ^{▼▼Literally “How will I soil them?”}
4 My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,
and my inmost yearned for him.
5 I myself arose to open to my beloved;
my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh
upon the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened myself to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone; ^{▼▼Or “my beloved had left; he was gone”}
my heart sank ^{▼▼Or “my soul left”} when he turned away. ^{▼▼Or “when he was speaking.” Translations equivocate on how to translate this verb, since there are two terms in Hebrew spelled identically: “to speak” and “to turn aside” (HALOT 1:210). The context suggests the latter}
I sought him, but I did not find him;
I called him, but he did not answer me.
7 The sentinels making rounds in the city found me;
they beat me, they wounded me;
they took my cloak ^{▼▼Or “mantle”} away from me—
⌞those sentinels on the walls⌟! ^{▼▼Literally “the sentinels of the walls”}

Adjuration Refrain

8 I adjure you, ⌞O maidens of Jerusalem⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “O daughters of Jerusalem”}
if you find my beloved, what will you tell him?
Tell him that I am ⌞lovesick⌟! ^{▼▼Literally “sick with love”}

Maiden’s Praise of Her Beloved

9 ⌞How is your beloved better than another lover⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “What is your beloved more than another beloved …?”}
O most beautiful among women?
⌞How is your beloved better than another lover⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “What is your beloved more than another beloved …?”}
that you adjure us thus?
10 My beloved is radiant and ⌞ruddy⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “red”}
distinguished ⌞among⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “more than”} ten thousand.
11 His head is gold, refined gold;
his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves beside springs ^{▼▼Or “streams”} of water,
bathed in milk, ⌞set like mounted jewels⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “dwelling in a setting”
,} ^{▼▼Or “seated at a suitable mounting”}
13 His cheeks are like beds of spice, a tower of fragrances;
his lips are lilies dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are ⌞rods⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “cylinders”
,} ^{▼▼Or “rings”} of gold ⌞engraved with⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “filled with”} jewels;
his belly ^{▼▼Or “body”} is polished ivory covered with sapphires. ^{▼▼Or “works of ivory set with sapphire”}
15 His legs are columns of alabaster, ^{▼▼Or “marble”} set on bases of gold;
his appearance is like Lebanon, choice as ⌞its cedars⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “the cedars”}
16 ⌞His mouth⌟ ^{▼▼Or “his palate”} is sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved;
this is my friend, ⌞O young women of Jerusalem⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “O daughters of Jerusalem”}