The Beloved to Her Lover: “I have already taken off my robe – must I put it on again? I have already washed my feet – must I soil them again?”

The Lover to His Beloved: O my dove, ¹  in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the mountain crags, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

The night watchmen found me – the ones who guard the city walls. ¹  “Have you seen my beloved?” ² 

The Lover to His Beloved: My darling, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, ¹  as lovely as Jerusalem, ²  as awe-inspiring ³  as bannered armies!

The Beloved about Her Lover: All night long ¹  on my bed ²  I longed for ³  my lover. ⁴  I longed for ⁵  him but he never appeared. ⁶ 

The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen on the walls!

The Beloved to the Maidens: I admonish you, O maidens ¹  of Jerusalem: “Do not ²  arouse or awaken love until it pleases!”

My vineyard, ¹  which belongs to me, ²  is at my disposal alone. ³  The thousand shekels belong to you, O Solomon, and two hundred shekels belong to those who maintain it for its fruit.

Surging waters cannot quench love; floodwaters ¹  cannot overflow it. If someone were to offer all his possessions ²  to buy love, ³  the offer ⁴  would be utterly despised. ⁵ 

Do not stare at me because ¹  I am dark, for ²  the sun has burned my skin. ³  My brothers ⁴  were angry ⁵  with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards. Alas, my own vineyard ⁶  I could not keep! ⁷ 

The Lover to His Beloved: If you do not know, O most beautiful of women, simply follow the tracks of my flock, and pasture your little lambs beside the tents of the shepherds.

The Beloved to the Maidens: I adjure you, ¹  O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does ²  of the open fields: ³  Do not awaken or arouse ⁴  love ⁵  until it pleases! ⁶ 

“I will arise ¹  and look all around ²  throughout the town, and throughout the streets ³  and squares; I will search for my beloved.” I searched for him but I did not find him. ⁴ 

The Beloved to the Maidens: ¹ 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 Beloved to the Maidens: O maidens of Jerusalem, I command you – If you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him that I am lovesick! ¹ 

Let us rise early to go to the vineyards, to see if the vines have budded, to see if their blossoms have opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom – there I will give you my love.

The Beloved to Her Lover: Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon; he leased out ¹  the vineyard to those who maintained it. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

Scarcely ¹  had I passed them by when I found my beloved! I held onto him ²  tightly and would not let him go ³  until I brought him to my mother’s house, ⁴  to the bedroom chamber ⁵  of the one who conceived me.