But she is unique! ¹  My dove, my perfect one! She is the special daughter ²  of her mother, she is the favorite ³  of the one who bore her. The maidens ⁴  saw her and complimented her; ⁵  the queens and concubines praised her:

Hazor Hadattah, Kerioth Hezron (that is, Hazor),

Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (that is, Debir),

When I tried to make sense of this, it was troubling to me. ¹ 

Who really knows if the human spirit ¹  ascends upward, and the animal’s spirit descends into the earth?

If she is a wall, ¹  we will build on her a battlement ²  of silver; but if she is a door, we will barricade ³  her with boards ⁴  of cedar. ⁵ 

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: If the prince should give a gift to one of his sons as ¹  his inheritance, it will belong to his sons, it is their property by inheritance.

The wisest of her ladies ¹  answer; indeed she even thinks to herself,

Sometime later ¹  Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, so she and her two sons were left alone.

But David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the city of David).

He entered Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king.

For I would have committed ¹  a shameful act, ²  an iniquity to be judged. ³ 

But it is a spirit in people, the breath ¹  of the Almighty, that makes them understand.

But now, O Lord, upon what am I relying? You are my only hope! ¹ 

Then I said, “I am sickened by the thought that the sovereign One ¹  might become inactive. ² 

This is the Lord’s work. We consider it amazing! ¹ 

מ (Mem) O how I love your law! All day long I meditate on it.

Your commandments ¹  make me wiser than my enemies, for I am always aware of them.

She is more precious than rubies, and none of the things ¹  you desire ²  can compare ³  with her. ⁴ 

She is like ¹  a tree of life ²  to those who obtain her, ³  and everyone who grasps hold of her will be blessed. ⁴