Song of Solomon 6:4-8
New King James Version
Praise of the Shulamite’s Beauty
The Beloved
4 O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,
Lovely as Jerusalem,
Awesome as an army with banners!
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
For they have [a]overcome me.
Your hair is (A)like a flock of goats
Going down from Gilead.
6 (B)Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
Which have come up from the washing;
Every one bears twins,
And none is [b]barren among them.
7 (C)Like a piece of pomegranate
Are your temples behind your veil.
8 There are sixty queens
And eighty concubines,
And (D)virgins without number.
9 My dove, my (E)perfect one,
Is the only one,
The only one of her mother,
The favorite of the one who bore her.
The daughters saw her
And called her blessed,
The queens and the concubines,
And they praised her.
10 Who is she who looks forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
(F)Awesome as an army with banners?
The Shulamite
11 I went down to the garden of nuts
To see the verdure of the valley,
(G)To see whether the vine had budded
And the pomegranates had bloomed.
12 Before I was even aware,
My soul had made me
As the chariots of [c]my noble people.
The Beloved and His Friends
13 Return, return, O Shulamite;
Return, return, that we may look upon you!
The Shulamite
What would you see in the Shulamite—
As it were, the dance of [d]the two camps?
Expressions of Praise
The Beloved
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
(H)O prince’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a skillful workman.
2 Your navel is a rounded goblet;
It lacks no [e]blended beverage.
Your waist is a heap of wheat
Set about with lilies.
3 (I)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
4 (J)Your neck is like an ivory tower,
Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
Which looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,
And the hair of your head is like purple;
A king is held captive by your tresses.
6 How fair and how pleasant you are,
O love, with your delights!
7 This stature of yours is like a palm tree,
And your breasts like its clusters.
8 I said, “I will go up to the palm tree,
I will take hold of its branches.”
Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
The fragrance of your [f]breath like apples,
9 And the roof of your mouth like the best wine.
The Shulamite
The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved,
[g]Moving gently the [h]lips of sleepers.
10 (K)I am my beloved’s,
And (L)his desire is toward me.
11 Come, my beloved,
Let us go forth to the field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards;
Let us (M)see if the vine has budded,
Whether the grape blossoms are open,
And the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The (N)mandrakes give off a fragrance,
And at our gates (O)are pleasant fruits,
All manner, new and old,
Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.
Lovers Reunited at Their Country Home
8 Oh, that you were like my brother,
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I should find you outside,
I would kiss you;
I would not be despised.
2 I would lead you and bring you
Into the (P)house of my mother,
She who used to instruct me.
I would cause you to drink of (Q)spiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.
(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)
3 (R)His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
4 (S)I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 6:5 overwhelmed
- Song of Solomon 6:6 bereaved
- Song of Solomon 6:12 Heb. Ammi Nadib
- Song of Solomon 6:13 Heb. Mahanaim
- Song of Solomon 7:2 Lit. mixed or spiced drink
- Song of Solomon 7:8 Lit. nose
- Song of Solomon 7:9 Gliding over
- Song of Solomon 7:9 LXX, Syr., Vg. lips and teeth.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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