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[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]

Where did your beloved go, most beautiful of women?
Where did your beloved turn?
We will look for him with you.

[ BRIDE ]

My beloved went to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to graze his flock in the gardens and gather lilies.
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
He is the one who grazes his flock among the lilies.

Solomon Desires the Young Woman More Than the Rest of His Wives

[ GROOM ]

You are beautiful, my true love, like Tirzah,
lovely like Jerusalem,
awe-inspiring like those great cities.[a]
Turn your eyes away from me. They enchant me!

Your hair is like a flock of goats moving down from Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep,
sheep that come up from the washing.
All of them bear twins, and not one has lost its young.
Your temples behind your veil are like slices of pomegranate.

There are 60 queens, 80 concubines,[b] and countless virgins,
but she is unique, my dove, my perfect one.
Her mother thinks she is unique.
She is pure to the one who gave birth to her.
Her sisters saw her and blessed her.
Queens and concubines saw her and praised her.

The Young Woman’s Home in Shulam

[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]

10 Who is this young woman?
She looks like the dawn.
She is beautiful like the moon,
pure like the sun,
awe-inspiring like those heavenly bodies.

[ BRIDE ]

11 I went to the walnut grove
to look at the blossoms in the valley,
to see if the grapevine had budded
and if the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 I did not know that I had become
like the chariots of my noble people.[c]

[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]

13 Come back! Come back, young woman from Shulam!
Come back! Come back so that we may look at you!

[ BRIDE ]

Why do you look at me, the young woman from Shulam,
as you look at the dance of Mahanaim?

Footnotes

  1. 6:4 Or “awe-inspiring as an army with flags.”
  2. 6:8 A concubine is considered a wife except she has fewer rights under the law.
  3. 6:12 Song of Songs 6:13 in English Bibles is Song of Songs 7:1 in the Hebrew Bible.

Friends

Where has your beloved(A) gone,
    most beautiful of women?(B)
Which way did your beloved turn,
    that we may look for him with you?

She

My beloved has gone(C) down to his garden,(D)
    to the beds of spices,(E)
to browse in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.
I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;(F)
    he browses among the lilies.(G)

He

You are as beautiful as Tirzah,(H) my darling,
    as lovely as Jerusalem,(I)
    as majestic as troops with banners.(J)
Turn your eyes from me;
    they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from Gilead.(K)
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
    not one of them is missing.(L)
Your temples behind your veil(M)
    are like the halves of a pomegranate.(N)
Sixty queens(O) there may be,
    and eighty concubines,(P)
    and virgins beyond number;
but my dove,(Q) my perfect one,(R) is unique,
    the only daughter of her mother,
    the favorite of the one who bore her.(S)
The young women 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?

He

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.(T)
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!

He

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
    as on the dance(U) of Mahanaim?[b]

Footnotes

  1. Song of Songs 6:12 Or among the chariots of Amminadab; or among the chariots of the people of the prince
  2. Song of Songs 6:13 In Hebrew texts this verse (6:13) is numbered 7:1.