The Bride and Her Beloved The Bridegroom 1 CPDV Bride: May my beloved enter into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees. BSB BSB: I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.
The Friends The Bride 2 CPDV Groom to Bride: I have arrived in my garden, O my sister, my spouse. I have harvested my myrrh, with my aromatic oils. I have eaten the honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, O most beloved. BSB BSB: I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”
3 CPDV Bride: I sleep, yet my heart watches. The voice of my beloved knocking: BSB BSB: I have taken off my robe—must I put it back on? I have washed my feet—must I soil them again?
4 CPDV Groom to Bride: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my immaculate one. For my head is full of dew, and the locks of my hair are full of the drops of the night. BSB BSB: My beloved put his hand to the latch; my heart pounded for him.
5 CPDV Bride: I have taken off my tunic; how shall I be clothed in it? I have washed my feet; how shall I spoil them? BSB BSB: I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt.
6 CPDV My beloved put his hand through the window, and my inner self was moved by his touch. BSB BSB: I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer.
7 CPDV I rose up in order to open to my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers were full of the finest myrrh. BSB BSB: I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city. They beat me and bruised me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls.
8 CPDV I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved. But he had turned aside and had gone away. My soul melted when he spoke. I sought him, and did not find him. I called, and he did not answer me. BSB BSB: O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.
The Friends 9 CPDV The keepers who circulate through the city found me. They struck me, and wounded me. The keepers of the walls took my veil away from me. BSB BSB: How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?
The Bride 10 CPDV I bind you by oath, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, announce to him that I languish through love. BSB BSB: My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.
11 CPDV Chorus to Bride: What kind of beloved is your beloved, O most beautiful among women? What kind of beloved is your beloved, so that you would bind us by oath? BSB BSB: His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.
12 CPDV Bride: My beloved is white and ruddy, elect among thousands. BSB BSB: His eyes are like doves beside the streams of water, bathed in milk and mounted like jewels.
13 CPDV His head is like the finest gold. His locks are like the heights of palm trees, and as black as a raven. BSB BSB: His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.
14 CPDV His eyes are like doves, which have been washed with milk over rivulets of waters, and which reside near plentiful streams. BSB BSB: His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is polished ivory bedecked with sapphires.
15 CPDV His cheeks are like a courtyard of aromatic plants, sown by perfumers. His lips are like lilies, dripping with the best myrrh. BSB BSB: His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.