Song of Solomon 6
The Voice
6 Young Women of Jerusalem (to her): Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Do you know which direction he went
so we can help you find him?
They pass through many obstacles as they celebrate their union in different venues. Love is found in a garden or a parental home. Ecstasy comes in a dream or reality.
2 Her: Women of Jerusalem, I know where my love is.
My love has gone into his garden
Among the beds of aromatic spices,
like a gazelle grazing among his gardens
and a gardener gathering the lilies.
3 I belong to my love, and my love to me.
He feeds his flock among the lilies.
4 Him (to her): You are beautiful, my dear, as beautiful as Tirzah,
as lovely as Jerusalem,
as regal as an army beneath their banners.
5 Turn your eyes from me
because they overpower me as always.
Your hair moves as gracefully as a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Mount Gilead.
6 Your teeth are pearl white like a flock of sheep shorn,
fresh up from a wash.
Each is perfect and paired with another;
not one of them is lost.
7 Your cheeks are rosy and round beneath your veil,
like the halves of a pomegranate.
8 There may be 60 queens and 80 concubines—
there may be more virgins than can be counted—
9 But my dove, my perfect love is the only one for me,
the only daughter of her mother,
the pure and favored child to the one who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines praised her.
10 Young Women of Jerusalem: Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
as radiant as the full moon, as bright as sunlight,
as majestic as an army beneath their banners?
11 Her: I went down to walk among a stand of walnut trees,
to take in the new growth of the valley,
To see if the vines had budded
or the pomegranates were blooming.
12 Before I knew it, my passions set me before some chariots,
those belonging to my noble people.[a]
13 Young Women of Jerusalem: Come back, come back, O Shulammite!
Come back, come back to us, so that we can look upon you.
Him: Why should you look upon the Shulammite,
as you would stare at the dance of joyous victory at Mahanaim?
Footnotes
- 6:12 Hebrew, Ammi-nadiv; meaning is uncertain.
Song of Solomon 6
King James Version
6 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.
4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
6 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.
7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.
8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.
9 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.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.