The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 Restless in bed and sleepless through the night, I longed for my lover. I wanted him desperately. His absence was painful.
1
By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
2 So I got up, went out and roved the city, hunting through streets and down alleys. I wanted my lover in the worst way! I looked high and low, and didn't find him.
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.
3 And then the night watchmen found me as they patrolled the darkened city. "Have you seen my dear lost love?" I asked.
3
The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
4 No sooner had I left them than I found him, found my dear lost love. I threw my arms around him and held him tight, wouldn't let him go until I had him home again, safe at home beside the fire.
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.
5 Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem, by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer: Don't excite love, don't stir it up, until the time is ripe - and you're ready.
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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.
6 What's this I see, approaching from the desert, raising clouds of dust, Filling the air with sweet smells and pungent aromatics?
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Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
7 Look! It's Solomon's carriage, carried and guarded by sixty soldiers, sixty of Israel's finest,
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Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.
8 All of them armed to the teeth, trained for battle, ready for anything, anytime.
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They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.
9 King Solomon once had a carriage built from fine-grained Lebanon cedar.
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King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.
10 He had it framed with silver and roofed with gold. The cushions were covered with a purple fabric, the interior lined with tooled leather.
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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.
11 Come and look, sisters in Jerusalem. Oh, sisters of Zion, don't miss this! My King-Lover, dressed and garlanded for his wedding, his heart full, bursting with joy!
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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.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.