Song of Songs 5

Modern English Version

5 I come to my garden, my sister, my bride;
    I gather my myrrh with my spice;
I eat my honeycomb with my honey;
    I drink my wine with my milk.

Eat, friends!
    Drink, and be drunk with love!

² I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, and my love,
    my dove, my perfect one;
for my head is wet with dew,
    my locks with the drops of the night.”
³ I had taken off my garment;
    how could I put it on again?
I had bathed my feet;
    how could I soil them?
⁴ My beloved put his hand by the latch,
    and my heart yearned for him.
⁵ I rose up to open to my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh
    on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened to my beloved,
    but my beloved had turned and was gone.
    My soul failed me when he spoke.
I sought him, but found him not;
    I called him, but he gave no answer.
⁷ The watchmen found me
    as they went about the city;
they struck me, they wounded me;
    they took away my mantle,
    those watchmen of the walls.
⁸ I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
    if you find my beloved,
    that you tell him I am faint with love.

⁹ What is your beloved more than another beloved,
    O fairest among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
    that you so charge us?

¹⁰ My beloved is white and ruddy,
    distinguished among ten thousand.
¹¹ His head is the finest gold;
    his locks are wavy,
    black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves
    beside rivers of water,
bathed in milk,
    fitly set.
¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spices,
    mounds of scented herbs.
His lips are lilies,
    dripping liquid myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold,
    set with jewels.
His body is bright ivory,
    inlaid with sapphires.
¹⁵ His legs are alabaster columns,
    set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
    choice as the cedars.
¹⁶ His mouth is most sweet,
    and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
    O daughters of Jerusalem.