Song of Solomon 6–8

6Where has your beloved gone,

^aO fairest among women?

Where has your beloved turned aside,

That we may seek him with you?

²My beloved has gone to his ^bgarden,

To the beds of spices,

To feed his flock in the gardens,

And to gather lilies.

^3cI am my beloved’s,

And my beloved is mine.

He feeds his flock among the lilies.

Praise of the Shulamite’s Beauty

⁴O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,

Lovely as Jerusalem,

Awesome as an army with banners!

⁵Turn your eyes away from me,

For they have ¹overcome me.

Your hair is ^dlike a flock of goats

Going down from Gilead.

^6eYour teeth are like a flock of sheep

Which have come up from the washing;

Every one bears twins,

And none is ²barren among them.

^7fLike a piece of pomegranate

Are your temples behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens

And eighty concubines,

And ^gvirgins without number.

⁹My dove, my ^hperfect one,

Is the only one,

The only one of her mother,

The favorite of the one who bore her.

The daughters saw her

And called her blessed,

The queens and the concubines,

And they praised her.

¹⁰Who is she who looks forth as the morning,

Fair as the moon,

Clear as the sun,

ⁱAwesome as an army with banners?

¹¹I went down to the garden of nuts

To see the verdure of the valley,

^jTo see whether the vine had budded

And the pomegranates had bloomed.

¹²Before I was even aware,

My soul had made me

As the chariots of ³my noble people.

¹³Return, return, O Shulamite;

Return, return, that we may look upon you!

What would you see in the Shulamite—

As it were, the dance of ⁴the two camps?

Expressions of Praise

7How beautiful are your feet in sandals,

^aO prince’s daughter!

The curves of your thighs are like jewels,

The work of the hands of a skillful workman.

²Your navel is a rounded goblet;

It lacks no ¹blended beverage.

Your waist is a heap of wheat

Set about with lilies.

^3bYour two breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle.

^4cYour neck is like an ivory tower,

Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon

By the gate of Bath Rabbim.

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon

Which looks toward Damascus.

⁵Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,

And the hair of your head is like purple;

A king is held captive by your tresses.

⁶How fair and how pleasant you are,

O love, with your delights!

⁷This stature of yours is like a palm tree,

And your breasts like its clusters.

⁸I said, “I will go up to the palm tree,

I will take hold of its branches.”

Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine,

The fragrance of your ²breath like apples,

⁹And the roof of your mouth like the best wine.

The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved,

³Moving gently the ⁴lips of sleepers.

^10dI am my beloved’s,

And ^ehis desire is toward me.

¹¹Come, my beloved,

Let us go forth to the field;

Let us lodge in the villages.

¹²Let us get up early to the vineyards;

Let us ^fsee if the vine has budded,

Whether the grape blossoms are open,

And the pomegranates are in bloom.

There I will give you my love.

¹³The ^gmandrakes give off a fragrance,

And at our gates ^hare pleasant fruits,

All manner, new and old,

Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.

8Oh, that you were like my brother,

Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!

If I should find you outside,

I would kiss you;

I would not be despised.

²I would lead you and bring you

Into the ^ahouse of my mother,

She who used to instruct me.

I would cause you to drink of ^bspiced wine,

Of the juice of my pomegranate.

^3cHis left hand is under my head,

And his right hand embraces me.

^4dI charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

Do not stir up nor awaken love

Until it pleases.

Love Renewed in Lebanon

^5eWho is this coming up from the wilderness,

Leaning upon her beloved?

I awakened you under the apple tree.

There your mother brought you forth;

There she who bore you brought you forth.

^6fSet me as a seal upon your heart,

As a seal upon your arm;

For love is as strong as death,

^gJealousy as ¹cruel as ²the grave;

Its flames are flames of fire,

³A most vehement flame.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love,

Nor can the floods drown it.

^hIf a man would give for love

All the wealth of his house,

It would be utterly despised.

⁸ⁱWe have a little sister,

And she has no breasts.

What shall we do for our sister

In the day when she is spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall,

We will build upon her

A battlement of silver;

And if she is a door,

We will enclose her

With boards of cedar.

¹⁰I am a wall,

And my breasts like towers;

Then I became in his eyes

As one who found peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;

^jHe leased the vineyard to keepers;

Everyone was to bring for its fruit

A thousand silver coins.

¹²My own vineyard is before me.

You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,

And those who tend its fruit two hundred.

¹³You who dwell in the gardens,

The companions listen for your voice—

^kLet me hear it!

^14lMake ⁴haste, my beloved,

And ^mbe like a gazelle

Or a young stag

On the mountains of spices.