The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 I went to my garden, dear friend, best lover! breathed the sweet fragrance. I ate the fruit and honey, I drank the nectar and wine. Celebrate with me, friends! Raise your glasses - "To life! To love!"
1
I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. Beloved
2 I was sound asleep, but in my dreams I was wide awake. Oh, listen! It's the sound of my lover knocking, calling! "Let me in, dear companion, dearest friend, my dove, consummate lover! I'm soaked with the dampness of the night, drenched with dew, shivering and cold."
2
I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My hair with the dampness of the night.
3 "But I'm in my nightgown - do you expect me to get dressed? I'm bathed and in bed - do you want me to get dirty?"
3
I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on? I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?
4 But my lover wouldn't take no for an answer, and the longer he knocked, the more excited I became.
4
My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him.
5 I got up to open the door to my lover, sweetly ready to receive him, Desiring and expectant as I turned the door handle.
5
I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, My fingers with liquid myrrh, On the handles of the lock.
6 But when I opened the door he was gone. My loved one had tired of waiting and left. And I died inside - oh, I felt so bad! I ran out looking for him But he was nowhere to be found. I called into the darkness - but no answer.
6
I opened to my beloved; But my beloved left; gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I didn't find him. I called him, but he didn't answer.
7 The night watchmen found me as they patrolled the streets of the city. They slapped and beat and bruised me, ripping off my clothes, These watchmen, who were supposed to be guarding the city.
7
The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.
8 I beg you, sisters in Jerusalem - if you find my lover, Please tell him I want him, that I'm heartsick with love for him.
8
I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, That you tell him that I am faint with love. Friends
9 What's so great about your lover, fair lady? What's so special about him that you beg for our help?
9
How is your beloved better than another beloved, You fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, That you do so adjure us? Beloved
10 My dear lover glows with health - red-blooded, radiant! He's one in a million. There's no one quite like him!
10
My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand.
11 My golden one, pure and untarnished, with raven black curls tumbling across his shoulders.
11
His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves, soft and bright, but deep-set, brimming with meaning, like wells of water.
12
His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, Washed with milk, mounted like jewels.
13 His face is rugged, his beard smells like sage, His voice, his words, warm and reassuring.
13
His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
14 Fine muscles ripple beneath his skin, quiet and beautiful. His torso is the work of a sculptor, hard and smooth as ivory.
14
His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
15 He stands tall, like a cedar, strong and deep-rooted, A rugged mountain of a man, aromatic with wood and stone.
15
His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16 His words are kisses, his kisses words. Everything about him delights me, thrills me through and through! That's my lover, that's my man, dear Jerusalem sisters.
16
His mouth is sweetness; Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, Daughters of Jerusalem. Friends