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

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