1. I am come into my garden, my sister, {my} spouse: 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, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. {yea...: or, and be drunken with loves}

2. I sleep, but my heart waketh: {it is} the voice of my beloved that knocketh, {saying}, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, {and} my locks with the drops of the night.

3. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

4. My beloved put in his hand by the hole {of the door}, and my bowels were moved for him. {for him: or, (as some read) in me}

5. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped {with} myrrh, and my fingers {with} sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. {sweet...: Heb. passing, or, running about}

6. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, {and} was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

7. The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

8. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I {am} sick of love. {that ye: Heb. what, etc}

9. What {is} thy beloved more than {another} beloved, O thou fairest among women? what {is} thy beloved more than {another} beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

10. My beloved {is} white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. {the chiefest: Heb. a standard-bearer}

11. His head {is as} the most fine gold, his locks {are} bushy, {and} black as a raven. {bushy: or, curled}

12. His eyes {are} as {the eyes} of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, {and} fitly set. {fitly...: Heb. sitting in fulness, that is, fitly placed, and set as a precious stone in the foil of a ring}

13. His cheeks {are} as a bed of spices, {as} sweet flowers: his lips {like} lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. {sweet flowers: or, towers of perfumes}

14. His hands {are as} gold rings set with the beryl: his belly {is as} bright ivory overlaid {with} sapphires.

15. His legs {are as} pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance {is} as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

16. His mouth {is} most sweet: yea, he {is} altogether lovely. This {is} my beloved, and this {is} my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. {mouth: Heb. palate}