Song of Songs 6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O fairest among women?
Which way has your beloved turned
that we may seek him with you?(A)
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens
and to gather lilies.(B)
3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine;
he pastures his flock among the lilies.(C)
The Young Woman’s Matchless Beauty
4 You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
comely as Jerusalem,
terrible as an army with banners.(D)
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me!
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
moving down the slopes of Gilead.(E)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins,
and not one among them is bereaved.(F)
7 Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.(G)
8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines
and maidens without number.(H)
9 My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
the darling of her mother,
flawless to her who bore her.
The maidens saw her and called her happy;
the queens and concubines praised her.(I)
10 “Who is this that looks forth like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
terrible as an army with banners?”(J)
11 I went down to the nut orchard
to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.(K)
12 Before I was aware, my desire set me
in a chariot beside my prince.[a]
13 [b]Return, return, O Shulammite!
Return, return, that we may look upon you.
Song of Solomon 6
Holman Christian Standard Bible
6 Y Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way has he[a] turned?
We will seek him with you.
2 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)
3 I am my love’s and my love is mine;(E)
he feeds among the lilies.
4 M You are as beautiful as Tirzah,[b] my darling,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners.(F)
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
for they captivate me.(G)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead.(H)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing.[c](I)
7 Behind your veil,(J)
your brow[d] is like a slice of pomegranate.
8 There are 60 queens
and 80 concubines(K)
and young women[e] without number.
9 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]
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 6:1 Lit your love
- Song of Solomon 6:4 = a mountain city in Manasseh
- Song of Solomon 6:6 Lit and no one bereaved among them
- Song of Solomon 6:7 Or temple, or cheek, or lips
- Song of Solomon 6:8 Or and virgins; Sg 1:3
- Song of Solomon 6:10 Some see v. 10 as spoken by M.
- Song of Solomon 6:10 In Hb, the word for “this” is feminine.
- Song of Solomon 6:12 Or of Amminadib, or of my people of a prince; Hb obscure
- Song of Solomon 6:13 Sg 7:1 in Hb
- Song of Solomon 6:13 Or the peaceable one
- Song of Solomon 6:13 Perhaps an inhabitant of the town of Shunem, or a feminine form of Solomon’s name
- Song of Solomon 6:13 Or dance of Mahanaim
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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