Young Woman

16My lover is mine, and I am his.

He browses among the lilies.

17Before the dawn breezes blow

and the night shadows flee,

return to me, my love, like a gazelle

or a young stag on the rugged mountains.*2:17 Or on the hills of Bether.

Song of Songs 3

Young Woman

1One night as I lay in bed, I yearned for my lover.

I yearned for him, but he did not come.

2So I said to myself, “I will get up and roam the city,

searching in all its streets and squares.

I will search for the one I love.”

So I searched everywhere but did not find him.

3The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds,

and I asked, “Have you seen the one I love?”

4Then scarcely had I left them

when I found my love!

I caught and held him tightly,

then I brought him to my mother’s house,

into my mother’s bed, where I had been conceived.

5Promise me, O women of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and wild deer,

not to awaken love until the time is right.*3:5 Or not to awaken love until it is ready.