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Friends

Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women?
    Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?

Beloved

My beloved has gone down to his garden,
    to the beds of spices,
    to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
    He browses among the lilies.

Lover

You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah,
    lovely as Jerusalem,
    awesome as an army with banners.
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.
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.
Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

There are sixty queens, eighty concubines,
    and virgins without number.
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?

Young Women of Jerusalem

Where has your lover gone,
    O woman of rare beauty?
Which way did he turn
    so we can help you find him?

Young Woman

My lover has gone down to his garden,
    to his spice beds,
to browse in the gardens
    and gather the lilies.
I am my lover’s, and my lover is mine.
    He browses among the lilies.

Young Man

You are beautiful, my darling,
    like the lovely city of Tirzah.
Yes, as beautiful as Jerusalem,
    as majestic as an army with billowing banners.
Turn your eyes away,
    for they overpower me.
Your hair falls in waves,
    like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are as white as sheep
    that are freshly washed.
Your smile is flawless,
    each tooth matched with its twin.[a]
Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates
    behind your veil.

Even among sixty queens
    and eighty concubines
    and countless young women,
I would still choose my dove, my perfect one—
    the favorite of her mother,
    dearly loved by the one who bore her.
The young women see her and praise her;
    even queens and royal concubines sing her praises:
10 “Who is this, arising like the dawn,
    as fair as the moon,
as bright as the sun,
    as majestic as an army with billowing banners?”

Young Woman

11 I went down to the grove of walnut trees
    and out to the valley to see the new spring growth,
to see whether the grapevines had budded
    or the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 Before I realized it,
    my strong desires had taken me to the chariot of a noble man.[b]

Young Women of Jerusalem

13 [c]Return, return to us, O maid of Shulam.
    Come back, come back, that we may see you again.

Young Man

Why do you stare at this young woman of Shulam,
    as she moves so gracefully between two lines of dancers?[d]

Footnotes

  1. 6:6 Hebrew Not one is missing; each has a twin.
  2. 6:12 Or to the royal chariots of my people, or to the chariots of Amminadab. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  3. 6:13a Verse 6:13 is numbered 7:1 in Hebrew text.
  4. 6:13b Or as you would at the movements of two armies? or as you would at the dance of Mahanaim? The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.