Others

Where has your beloved gone,
    O (A)most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
    that we may seek him with you?

Together in the Garden of Love

She

My beloved has gone down to his (B)garden
    to (C)the beds of spices,
to (D)graze[a] in the gardens
    and to gather (E)lilies.
(F)I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
    he grazes among the lilies.

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

He

You are beautiful as (G)Tirzah, (H)my love,
    (I)lovely as (J)Jerusalem,
    (K)awesome as an army with banners.
Turn away your eyes from me,
    for they overwhelm me—
(L)Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
(M)Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
    that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
    not one among them has lost its young.
(N)Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
There are (O)sixty (P)queens and eighty (Q)concubines,
    and (R)virgins without number.
My (S)dove, my (T)perfect one, is the only one,
    the only one of her mother,
    pure to (U)her who bore her.
(V)The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    (W)the queens and (X)concubines also, and they praised her.

10 (Y)“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
    beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
    (Z)awesome as an army with banners?”

She

11 I went down to the nut orchard
    to look at (AA)the blossoms of the valley,
(AB)to see whether the vines had budded,
    whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 (AC)Before I was aware, my desire set me
    among (AD)the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.[b]

Others

13 [c] Return, return, O (AE)Shulammite,
    return, return, that we may look upon you.

He

Why should you look upon (AF)the Shulammite,
    as upon (AG)a dance before (AH)two armies?[d]

Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 6:2 Or to pasture his flock; also verse 3
  2. Song of Solomon 6:12 Or chariots of Ammi-Nadib
  3. Song of Solomon 6:13 Ch 7:1 in Hebrew
  4. Song of Solomon 6:13 Or dance of Mahanaim

Y Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way has he[a] turned?
We will seek him with you.

W My love has gone down to his garden,(A)
to beds of spice,(B)
to feed in the gardens(C)
and gather lilies.(D)
I am my love’s and my love is mine;(E)
he feeds among the lilies.

M You are as beautiful as Tirzah,[b] my darling,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners.(F)
Turn your eyes away from me,
for they captivate me.(G)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead.(H)
Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing.[c](I)
Behind your veil,(J)
your brow[d] is like a slice of pomegranate.
There are 60 queens
and 80 concubines(K)
and young women[e] without number.
But my dove,(L) my virtuous one, is unique;(M)
she is the favorite of her mother,
perfect to the one who gave her birth.
Women see her and declare her fortunate;(N)
queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:

10 Y[f] Who is this[g](O) who shines like the dawn—
as beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners?(P)

11 W I came down to the walnut grove
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines were budding(Q)
and the pomegranates blooming.
12 Before I knew it,
my desire put me
among the chariots of my noble people.[h]

13 [i]Y Come back, come back, Shulammite![j][k]
Come back, come back, that we may look at you!

M Why are you looking at the Shulammite,
as you look at the dance(R) of the two camps?[l](S)

Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 6:1 Lit your love
  2. Song of Solomon 6:4 = a mountain city in Manasseh
  3. Song of Solomon 6:6 Lit and no one bereaved among them
  4. Song of Solomon 6:7 Or temple, or cheek, or lips
  5. Song of Solomon 6:8 Or and virgins; Sg 1:3
  6. Song of Solomon 6:10 Some see v. 10 as spoken by M.
  7. Song of Solomon 6:10 In Hb, the word for “this” is feminine.
  8. Song of Solomon 6:12 Or of Amminadib, or of my people of a prince; Hb obscure
  9. Song of Solomon 6:13 Sg 7:1 in Hb
  10. Song of Solomon 6:13 Or the peaceable one
  11. Song of Solomon 6:13 Perhaps an inhabitant of the town of Shunem, or a feminine form of Solomon’s name
  12. Song of Solomon 6:13 Or dance of Mahanaim