Song of Solomon 6–8

6Whither is thy beloved gone,

O thou fairest among women?

Whither hath thy beloved turned him,

That we may seek him with thee?

²My beloved is gone down to his garden,

To the beds of spices,

To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

³I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine:

He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

⁴Thou art fair, O my love, as Tirzah,

Comely as Jerusalem,

Terrible as an army with banners.

⁵Turn away thine eyes from me,

For they have overcome me.

Thy hair is as a flock of goats,

That lie along the side of Gilead.

⁶Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes,

Which are come up from the washing;

Whereof every one hath twins,

And none is bereaved among them.

⁷Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate

Behind thy veil.

⁸There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,

And virgins without number.

⁹My 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 called her blessed;

Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

¹⁰Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,

Fair as the moon,

Clear as the sun,

Terrible as an army with banners?

¹¹I went down into the garden of nuts,

To see the green plants of the valley,

To see whether the vine budded,

And the pomegranates were in flower.

¹²Before I was aware, my soul set me

Among the chariots of my princely people.

¹³Return, return, O Shulammite;

Return, return, that we may look upon thee.

Why will ye look upon the Shulammite,

As upon the dance of Mahanaim?

7How beautiful are thy feet in sandals, O prince’s daughter!

Thy rounded thighs are like jewels,

The work of the hands of a skilful workman.

²Thy body is like a round goblet,

Wherein no mingled wine is wanting:

Thy waist is like a heap of wheat

Set about with lilies.

³Thy two breasts are like two fawns

That are twins of a roe.

⁴Thy neck is like the tower of ivory;

Thine eyes as the pools in Heshbon,

By the gate of Bath-rabbim;

Thy nose is like the tower of Lebanon

Which looketh toward Damascus.

⁵Thy head upon thee is like Carmel,

And the hair of thy head like purple;

The king is held captive in the tresses thereof.

⁶How fair and how pleasant art thou,

O love, for delights!

⁷This thy stature is like to a palm-tree,

And thy breasts to its clusters.

⁸I said, I will climb up into the palm-tree,

I will take hold of the branches thereof:

Let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine,

And the smell of thy breath like apples,

⁹And thy mouth like the best wine,

That goeth down smoothly for my beloved,

Gliding through the lips of those that are asleep.

¹⁰I am my beloved’s;

And his desire is toward me.

¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;

Let us lodge in the villages.

¹²Let us get up early to the vineyards;

Let us see whether the vine hath budded,

And its blossom is open,

And the pomegranates are in flower:

There will I give thee my love.

¹³The mandrakes give forth fragrance;

And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old,

Which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

8Oh that thou wert as my brother,

That sucked the breasts of my mother!

When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;

Yea, and none would despise me.

²I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house,

Who would instruct me;

I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine,

Of the juice of my pomegranate.

³His left hand should be under my head,

And his right hand should embrace me.

⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

That ye stir not up, nor awake my love,

Until he please.

⁵Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,

Leaning upon her beloved?

Under the apple-tree I awakened thee:

There thy mother was in travail with thee,

There was she in travail that brought thee forth.

⁶Set me as a seal upon thy heart,

As a seal upon thine arm:

For love is strong as death;

Jealousy is cruel as Sheol;

The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,

A very flame of Jehovah.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love,

Neither can floods drown it:

If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,

He would utterly be contemned.

⁸We have a little sister,

And she hath no breasts:

What shall we do for our sister

In the day when she shall be spoken for?

⁹If she be a wall,

We will build upon her a turret of silver:

And if she be a door,

We will inclose her with boards of cedar.

¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof

Then was I in his eyes as one that found peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;

He let out the vineyard unto keepers;

Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

¹²My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:

Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,

And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

¹³Thou that dwellest in the gardens,

The companions hearken for thy voice:

Cause me to hear it.

¹⁴Make haste, my beloved,

And be thou like to a roe or to a young hart

Upon the mountains of spices.