Canticum Canticorum 3
1 In lectulo meo per noctes quæsivi quem diligit anima mea: quæsivi illum, et non inveni.
At night on my bed I was longing for him whom my soul loves; I looked for him, but I could not find him.
2 Surgam, et circuibo civitatem: per vicos et plateas quæram quem diligit anima mea: quæsivi illum, et non inveni.
I said to myself, “I will get up and go through the city, through the streets and squares; I will search for him whom my soul loves.” I searched for him, but I did not find him.
3 Invenerunt me vigiles, qui custodiunt civitatem: Num quem diligit anima mea, vidistis?
The watchmen found me as they were making their rounds in the city. I asked them, “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 meæ, et in cubiculum genetricis meæ.
It was only a little while after I had passed them that 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, into the bedroom of the one who had conceived me.
5 Adiuro vos filiæ Ierusalem per capreas, cervosque camporum, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam donec ipsa velit.
I want you to swear, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and the does of the fields, that you will not awaken or arouse love until she pleases.
6 Quæ est ista, quæ ascendit per desertum sicut virgula fumi ex aromatibus myrrhæ, et thuris, et universi pulveris pigmentarii?
What is that coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the powders sold by merchants?
7 En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt ex fortissimis Israel:
Look, it is the bed of Solomon; sixty warriors surround it, sixty soldiers of Israel.
8 omnes tenentes gladios, et ad bella doctissimi: uniuscuiusque ensis super femur suum propter timores nocturnos.
All of them are skilled with a sword and are experienced in warfare. Every man has his sword at his side, armed against the terrors of the night.
9 Ferculum fecit sibi rex Salomon de lignis Libani:
King Solomon made himself a sedan chair of the wood from Lebanon.
10 columnas eius fecit argenteas, reclinatorium aureum, ascensum purpureum: media charitate constravit propter filias Ierusalem:
Its posts were made of silver; the back was made of gold, and the seat of purple cloth. Its interior was decorated with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Egredimini et videte filiæ Sion regem Salomonem in diademate, quo coronavit illum mater sua in die desponsationis illius, et in die lætitiæ cordis eius.
Go out, daughters of Zion, and gaze on King Solomon, bearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, on the day of the joy of his heart.
