Common English Bible CEB
New Revised Standard NRS
1 [Man]I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride! I have gathered my myrrh and my spices. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, dear friends! Drink and get drunk on love!
1
I come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I gather my myrrh with my spice, I eat my honeycomb with my honey, I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love.
2 [Woman]I was sleeping, but my heart was awake. A sound! My love is knocking: [Man]"Open for me, my sister, my dearest, my dove, my perfect one! My head is soaked with dew, my hair, with the night mists."
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I slept, but my heart was awake. Listen! my beloved is knocking. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night."
3 [Woman]"I have taken off my tunic— why should I put it on again? I have bathed my feet— why should I get them dirty?"
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I had put off my garment; how could I put it on again? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?
4 My love put his hand in through the latch hole, and my body ached for him.
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My beloved thrust his hand into the opening, and my inmost being yearned for him.
5 I rose; I went to open for my love, and my hands dripped myrrh, my fingers, liquid myrrh, over the handles of the lock.
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I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt.
6 I went and opened for my love, but my love had turned, gone away. I nearly died when he turned away. I looked for him but couldn't find him. I called out to him, but he didn't answer me.
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I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and was gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but did not find him; I called him, but he gave no answer.
7 They found me—the guards who make their rounds in the city. They struck me, bruised me. They took my shawl away from me, those guards of the city walls!
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Making their rounds in the city the sentinels found me; they beat me, they wounded me, they took away my mantle, those sentinels of the walls.
8 I place you under oath, daughters of Jerusalem: If you find my love, what should you tell him? That I'm weak with love!
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I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him this: I am faint with love.
9 [Daughters of Jerusalem]How is your lover different from any other lover, you who are the most beautiful of women? How is your lover different from any other lover, that you make us swear a solemn pledge?
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What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?
10 [Woman]My lover is radiant and ruddy; he stands out among ten thousand!
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My beloved is all radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
11 His head is finest gold; his wavy hair, black as a raven.
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His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves by channels of water. They are bathing in milk, sitting by brimming pools.
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His eyes are like doves beside springs of water, bathed in milk, fitly set.
13 His cheeks are like fragrant plantings, towers of spices. His lips are lilies dripping liquid myrrh.
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His cheeks are like beds of spices, yielding fragrance. His lips are lilies, distilling liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are gold cylinders studded with jewels. His belly is smooth ivory encrusted with sapphires.
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His arms are rounded gold, set with jewels. His body is ivory work, encrusted with sapphires.
15 His thighs are pillars of whitest stone set on pedestals of gold. His appearance—like Lebanon, stately, like the cedars.
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His legs are alabaster columns, set upon bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.
16 His mouth is everything sweet, every bit of him desirable. This is my love, this my dearest, daughters of Jerusalem!
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His speech is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.