1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

1 In lectulo meo, per noctes,
quæsivi quem diligit anima mea:
quæsivi illum, et non inveni.

2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

2 Surgam, et circuibo civitatem:
per vicos et plateas
quæram quem diligit anima mea:
quæsivi illum, et non inveni.

3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

3 Invenerunt me vigiles qui custodiunt civitatem:
Num quem diligit anima mea vidistis?

4 It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

4 Paululum cum pertransissem eos,
inveni quem diligit anima mea:
tenui eum, nec dimittam,
donec introducam illum in domum matris meæ,
et in cubiculum genetricis meæ.

5 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

5 Sponsus. Adjuro vos, filiæ Jerusalem,
per capreas cervosque camporum,
ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam,
donec ipsa velit.

6 ¶ Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

6 Chorus. Quæ est ista quæ ascendit per desertum
sicut virgula fumi ex aromatibus myrrhæ,
et thuris, et universi pulveris pigmentarii?

7 Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

7 En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt
ex fortissimis Israël,

8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

8 omnes tenentes gladios, et ad bella doctissimi:
uniuscujusque ensis super femur suum
propter timores nocturnos.

9 King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

9 Ferculum fecit sibi rex Salomon
de lignis Libani;

10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

10 columnas ejus fecit argenteas,
reclinatorium aureum, ascensum purpureum;
media caritate constravit,
propter filias Jerusalem.

11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

11 Egredimini et videte, filiæ Sion,
regem Salomonem in diademate quo coronavit illum mater sua
in die desponsationis illius,
et in die lætitiæ cordis ejus.