The Song of Songs 3:5-11

The Adjuration Refrain

The Beloved to the Maidens:

3:5 I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields:

“Do not awake or arouse love until it pleases!”

The Royal Wedding Procession

The Speaker:

3:6 Who is this coming up from the desert

like a column of smoke,

like a fragrant billow of myrrh and frankincense,

every kind of fragrant powder of the traveling merchants?

3:7 Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch!

It is surrounded by sixty warriors,

some of Israel’s mightiest warriors.

3:8 All of them are skilled with a sword,

well-trained in the art of warfare.

Each has his sword at his side,

to guard against the terrors of the night.

3:9 King Solomon made a sedan chair for himself

of wood imported from Lebanon.

3:10 Its posts were made of silver;

its back was made of gold.

Its seat was upholstered with purple wool;

its interior was inlaid with leather by the maidens of Jerusalem.

3:11 Come out, O maidens of Zion,

and gaze upon King Solomon!

He is wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him

on his wedding day,

on the most joyous day of his life!