Tell me, O thou whom my soul loves, where thou feed [thy flock], where thou make [it] to rest at noon. For why should I be as she who is veiled beside the flocks of thy companions?

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.

[I said], I will rise now, and go around the city. In the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.

The watchmen who go about the city found me. [I said], Did ye see him whom my soul loves?

It was but a little that I passed from 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 who conceived me.

Before I was aware, my soul set me [among] the chariots of my princely people.

Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm. For love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as Sheol. The flashes of it are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame.