Song of Solomon 6:1–8:14

¹Whither is thy beloved gone, Thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? And we will seek him with thee. ²My beloved is gone down into 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, my love, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Terrible as troops with banners: ⁵Turn away thine eyes from me, For they overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats On the slopes of Gilead. ⁶Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep Which go up from the washing; Which have all borne twins, And none is barren among them. ⁷As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples Behind thy veil. ⁸There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, And virgins without number: ⁹My dove, mine undefiled, is but one; She is the only one of her mother, She is the choice one of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and they called her blessed; The queens and the concubines, and they praised her. ¹⁰Who is she that looketh forth as the dawn, Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, Terrible as troops with banners?

¹¹I went down into the garden of nuts, To see the verdure of the valley, To see whether the vine budded, Whether the pomegranates blossomed. ¹²Before I was aware, My soul set me upon the chariots of my willing people. ¹³Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may look upon thee. —What would ye look upon in the Shulamite? —As it were the dance of two camps.

Chapter 7

¹How beautiful are thy footsteps in sandals, O prince’s daughter! The roundings of thy thighs are like jewels, The work of the hands of an artist. ²Thy navel is a round goblet, which wanteth not mixed wine; Thy belly a heap of wheat, set about with lilies; ³Thy two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle; ⁴Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; Thine eyes, like the pools in Heshbon, By the gate of Bath-rabbim; Thy nose like the tower of Lebanon, Which looketh toward Damascus; ⁵Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, And the locks of thy head like purple; The king is fettered by thy ringlets! ⁶How fair and how pleasant art thou, my love, in delights! ⁷This thy stature is like to a palm-tree, And thy breasts to grape clusters. ⁸I said, I will go up to the palm-tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof; And thy breasts shall indeed be like clusters of the vine, And the fragrance of thy nose like apples, ⁹And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine, …That goeth down smoothly for my beloved, And stealeth over the lips of them that are asleep.

¹⁰I am my beloved’s, And his desire is toward me. ¹¹—Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the fields; Let us lodge in the villages. ¹²We will go up early to the vineyards, We will see if the vine hath budded, If the blossom is opening, And the pomegranates are in bloom: There will I give thee my loves. ¹³The mandrakes yield fragrance; And at our gates are all choice fruits, new and old: I have laid them up for thee, my beloved.

Chapter 8

¹Oh that thou wert as my brother, That sucked the breasts of my mother! Should I find thee without, I would kiss thee; And they would not despise me. ²I would lead thee, bring thee into my mother’s house; Thou wouldest instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, Of the juice of my pomegranate. ³His left hand would be under my head, And his right hand embrace me. ⁴I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, …Why should ye stir up, why awake my love, till he please?

⁵Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? I awoke thee under the apple-tree: There thy mother brought thee forth; There she brought thee forth that bore thee. 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, Flames of Jah. ⁷Many waters cannot quench love, Neither do the floods drown it: Even if a man gave all the substance of his house for love, It 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 enclose her with boards of cedar. ¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts like towers; Then was I in his eyes as one that findeth 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 silver-pieces. ¹²My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: The thousand silver-pieces be to thee, Solomon; And to the keepers of its fruit, two hundred.

¹³Thou that dwellest in the gardens, The companions hearken to thy voice: Let me hear it. ¹⁴Haste, my beloved, And be thou like a gazelle or a young hart Upon the mountains of spices.