The other women say
1“You are the most beautiful woman of all.
Where has the one who loves you gone?
Which way did he turn?
We’ll help you look for him.”
The woman says
2“My love has gone down to his garden.
He’s gone to the beds of spices.
He’s eating in the gardens.
He’s gathering lilies.
3I belong to my love, and he belongs to me.
He’s eating among the lilies.”
The king says
4“My love, you are as beautiful as the city of Tirzah.
You are as lovely as Jerusalem.
You are as majestic as troops carrying their banners.
5Turn your eyes away from me.
They overpower me.
Your hair flows like a flock of black goats
coming down from the hills of Gilead.
6Your teeth are as clean as a flock of sheep
coming up from being washed.
Each of your teeth has its twin.
Not one of them is missing.
7Your cheeks behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
8There might be 60 queens and 80 concubines.
There might be more virgins than anyone can count.
9But you are my perfect dove.
There isn’t anyone like you.
You are your mother’s favorite daughter.
The young women see you and call you blessed.
The queens and concubines praise you.”
The other women say
10“Who is this woman?
She is like the sunrise in all its glory.
She is as beautiful as the moon.
She is as bright as the sun.
She is as majestic as the stars traveling across the sky.”
The king says
11“I went down to a grove of nut trees.
I wanted to look at the new plants growing in the valley.
I wanted to find out whether the vines had budded.
I wanted to see if the pomegranate trees had bloomed.
12Before I realized it,
I was among the royal chariots of my people.”
The other women say
13“Come back to us.
Come back, Shulammite woman.
Come back to us.
Come back. Then we can look at you.”
The king says to the women
“Why do you want to look at the Shulammite woman
as you would watch a dancer at Mahanaim?”
Friends
1Where has your beloved gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way did your beloved turn,
that we may look for him with you?
She
2My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
he browses among the lilies.
He
4You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
as lovely as Jerusalem,
as majestic as troops with banners.
5Turn your eyes from me;
they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Gilead.
6Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
not one of them is missing.
7Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
8Sixty queens there may be,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number;
9but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
the only daughter of her mother,
the favorite of the one who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines praised her.
Friends
10Who is this that appears like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
majestic as the stars in procession?
He
11I 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.
12Before I realized it,
my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.6:12 Or among the chariots of Amminadab; or among the chariots of the people of the prince
Friends
13Come 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 of Mahanaim?6:13 In Hebrew texts this verse (6:13) is numbered 7:1.
