[3:1] On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.
[3:2] 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.
[3:3] The watchmen found me as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
[3:4] 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 who conceived me.
[3:5] I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.