Song of Solomon 6 (New International Version)

Song of Solomon 6

Friends

 ¹Where has your lover gone,
       most beautiful of women?
       Which way did your lover turn,
       that we may look for him with you?

Beloved

 ² My lover has gone down to his garden,
       to the beds of spices,
       to browse in the gardens
       and to gather lilies.

 ³ I am my lover's and my lover is mine;
       he browses among the lilies.

Lover

 ⁴ You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,
       lovely as Jerusalem,
       majestic as troops with banners.

 ⁵ Turn your eyes from me;
       they overwhelm me.
       Your hair is like a flock of goats
       descending from Gilead.

 ⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
       coming up from the washing.
       Each has its twin,
       not one of them is alone.

 ⁷ Your temples behind your veil
       are like the halves of a pomegranate.

 ⁸ Sixty queens there may be,
       and eighty concubines,
       and virgins beyond number;

 ⁹ but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
       the only daughter of her mother,
       the favorite of the one who bore her.
       The maidens saw her and called her blessed;
       the queens and concubines praised her.

Friends

 ¹⁰ Who is this that appears like the dawn,
       fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
       majestic as the stars in procession?

Lover

 ¹¹ I went down to the grove of nut trees
       to look at the new growth in the valley,
       to see if the vines had budded
       or the pomegranates were in bloom.

 ¹² Before I realized it,
       my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people. ^[a]

Friends

 ¹³ Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
       come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!
      

Lover

    Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
       as on the dance of Mahanaim?