6
Friends
1 Where
has your beloved
gone, you fairest
among women?
Where has your
beloved turned,
that we may seek
him with you?
Beloved
2 My
beloved has gone
down to his
garden,
to the beds
of spices,
to pasture
his flock in the
gardens, and to
gather lilies.
3 I am my
beloved’s, and my
beloved is mine.
He browses among the
lilies.
Lover
4 You are
beautiful, my love,
as Tirzah,
lovely as
Jerusalem,
awesome as an army
with banners.
5 Turn
away your eyes
from me,
for they have
overcome me.
Your hair is
like a flock
of goats,
that lie along the
side of Gilead.
6 Your
teeth are like
a flock of
ewes,
which have come
up from the
washing,
of which every
one has twins;
not one is
bereaved among
them.
7 Your
temples are like a
piece of a
pomegranate behind
your veil.
8 There
are sixty queens,
eighty concubines,
and virgins
without number.
9 My
dove, my perfect
one, is unique.
She is
her mother’s only daughter.
She is
the favorite one
of her who
bore her.
The daughters saw
her, and called
her blessed.
The queens and
the concubines saw
her, and they
praised her.
10 Who
is she who
looks out as
the morning,
beautiful as the
moon,
clear as the
sun,
and awesome as an
army with banners?
11 I
went down into
the nut tree grove,
to see the green
plants of the
valley,
to see whether
the vine budded,
and the
pomegranates were
in flower.
12 Without realizing it,
my desire set
me with my royal
people’s chariots.
Friends
13 Return, return, Shulammite!
Return, return, that we may gaze at you.
Lover
Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite,
as at the dance of Mahanaim?