Canticum Canticorum, 3

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

1. Upon my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.

2. “Surgam et circuibo civitatem; per vicos et plateas quaeram, quem diligit anima mea”. Quaesivi illum et non inveni.

2. "I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves." I sought him, but found him not.

3. Invenerunt me vigiles, qui circumeunt civitatem: “Num, quem diligit anima mea, vidistis?”.

3. The watchmen found me, as they went about in the city. "Have you seen him whom my soul loves?"

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

4. Scarcely had I passed them, when I found him whom my soul loves. 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. Adiuro vos, filiae Ierusalem, per capreas cervasque camporum, ne suscitetis neque evigilare faciatis dilectam, donec ipsa velit.

5. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the hinds of the field, that you stir not up nor awaken love until it please.

6. Quid hoc, quod ascendit per desertum sicut virgula fumi, aromatizans tus et myrrham et universum pulverem pigmentarii?

6. What is that coming up from the wilderness, like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

7. En lectulum Salomonis. Sexaginta fortes ambiunt illum ex fortissimis Israel,

7. Behold, it is the litter of Solomon! About it are sixty mighty men of the mighty men of Israel,

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

8. all girt with swords and expert in war, each with his sword at his thigh, against alarms by night.

9. Ferculum fecit sibi rex Salomon de lignis Libani;

9. King Solomon made himself a palanquin from the wood of Lebanon.

10. columnas eius fecit argenteas, reclinatorium aureum, sedile purpureum: medium eius stratum ebeneum. Filiae Ierusalem,

10. He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; it was lovingly wrought within by the daughters of Jerusalem.

11. egredimini et videte, filiae Sion, regem Salomonem in diademate, quo coronavit illum mater sua in die desponsationis illius et in die laetitiae cordis eius.

11. Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart.