Song of Songs 3:1-5

1 All night I lay on my bed.

I wanted my lover to come to me.

I looked for him but he did not appear.

2 I thought, ‘I will get up now and I will go into the city.

I will look everywhere for my lover.

I will look in all the streets.

I will look in all the market places.’

So I looked for him,

but I did not find him.

3 The city guards found me

as they walked in the streets of the city.

I asked them,

‘Have you seen the man that I love?’

4 Just then, as I left them, I found my lover!

I hugged him and I would not let him go.

I took him to my mother's house.

I took him into my mother's bedroom.

That is where my life started, inside my mother's body.

5 Promise this to me, young women of Jerusalem:

Do not cause our love to wake up.

Do not cause it to become too strong

until the time is right.

The gazelles and the wild deer will know about your promise.