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

Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.

Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.

Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.

Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.

As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded.

12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.

13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.