Now Solomon claims the right to fix his punishment.

The Queen, fearful that her prey may escape her, begs his life as a boon, but Solomon rejects her appeal; Assad must work out his salvation by overcoming temptation and mastering his wicked passion.

Sulamith approaches amid the wailings of her companions.

She is about to enter a retreat on the edge of the Syrian desert, but she, too, prays for the life of Assad.

Solomon, in a prophetic ecstasy, foretells Assad's deliverance from sin and in a vision sees a meeting between him and his pure love under a palm tree in the desert.