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

In the night watches, as I lay abed, I searched for my heart’s love, and searched in vain.

In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and found him not.

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

Now to stir abroad, and traverse the city, searching every alley-way and street for him I love so tenderly! But for all my search I could not find him.

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

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

I met the watchmen who go the city rounds, and asked them whether they had seen my love;

The watchmen who keep the city, found me: Have you seen him, whom my soul loveth?

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.

then, when I had scarce left them, I found him, so tenderly loved; and now that he is mine I will never leave him, never let him go, till I have brought him into my own mother’s house, into the room that saw my birth.

When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him: and I will not let him go, till I bring him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that bore me.

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

An oath, maidens of Jerusalem! By the gazelles and the wild fawns I charge you, wake never from her sleep my heart’s love, till wake she will!

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the harts of the fields, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved, till she please.

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

Who is this that makes her way up by the desert road, erect as a column of smoke, all myrrh and incense, and those sweet scents the perfumer knows?

Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?

En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt ex fortissimis Israël,

See now the bed whereon king Solomon lies, with sixty warriors to guard him, none braver in Israel;

Behold threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel, surrounded the bed of Solomon?

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

swordsmen all, well trained for battle, and each with his sword girt about him, against the perils of the night!

All holding swords, and most expert in war: every man’s sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night.

Ferculum fecit sibi rex Salomon de lignis Libani;

A litter king Solomon will have, of Lebanon wood;

King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus:

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

a golden frame it must have, on silver props, with cushions of purple; within are pictured tales of love, for your pleasure, maidens of Jerusalem.

The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple: the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem.

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

Come out, maidens of Sion, and see king Solomon wearing the crown that was his mother’s gift to him on his day of triumph, the day of his betrothal.

Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the joy of his heart.