Song of Solomon 6:1–8:14

The Daughters of Jerusalem

6 Where has your beloved gone,

aO fairest among women?

Where has your beloved turned aside,

That we may seek him with you?

The Shulamite

2 My beloved has gone to his bgarden,

To the beds of spices,

To feed his flock in the gardens,

And to gather lilies.

3 cI am my beloved’s,

And my beloved is mine.

He feeds his flock among the lilies.

Praise of the Shulamite’s Beauty

The Beloved

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

Lovely as Jerusalem,

Awesome as an army with banners!

5 Turn your eyes away from me,

For they have 1overcome me.

Your hair is dlike a flock of goats

Going down from Gilead.

6 eYour teeth are like a flock of sheep

Which have come up from the washing;

Every one bears twins,

And none is 2barren among them.

7 fLike a piece of pomegranate

Are your temples behind your veil.

8 There are sixty queens

And eighty concubines,

And gvirgins without number.

9 My 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.

10 Who is she who looks forth as the morning,

Fair as the moon,

Clear as the sun,

iAwesome as an army with banners?

The Shulamite

11 I 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.

12 Before I was even aware,

My soul had made me

As the chariots of 3my noble people.

The Beloved and His Friends

13 Return, return, O Shulamite;

Return, return, that we may look upon you!

The Shulamite

What would you see in the Shulamite—

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

Expressions of Praise

The Beloved

7 How 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.

2 Your navel is a rounded goblet;

It lacks no 1blended beverage.

Your waist is a heap of wheat

Set about with lilies.

3 bYour two breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle.

4 cYour 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.

5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,

And the hair of your head is like purple;

A king is held captive by your tresses.

6 How fair and how pleasant you are,

O love, with your delights!

7 This stature of yours is like a palm tree,

And your breasts like its clusters.

8 I 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,

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

The Shulamite

The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved,

3Moving gently the 4lips of sleepers.

10 dI am my beloved’s,

And ehis desire is toward me.

11 Come, my beloved,

Let us go forth to the field;

Let us lodge in the villages.

12 Let 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.

13 The 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.

8 Oh, 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.

2 I 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.

(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)

3 cHis left hand is under my head,

And his right hand embraces me.

4 dI charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

Do not stir up nor awaken love

Until it pleases.

Love Renewed in Lebanon

A Relative

5 eWho 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.

The Shulamite To Her Beloved

6 fSet 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.

7 Many 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.

The Shulamite’s Brothers

8 iWe have a little sister,

And she has no breasts.

What shall we do for our sister

In the day when she is spoken for?

9 If 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.

The Shulamite

10 I am a wall,

And my breasts like towers;

Then I became in his eyes

As one who found peace.

11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;

jHe leased the vineyard to keepers;

Everyone was to bring for its fruit

A thousand silver coins.

(To Solomon)

12 My own vineyard is before me.

You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,

And those who tend its fruit two hundred.

The Beloved

13 You who dwell in the gardens,

The companions listen for your voice—

kLet me hear it!

The Shulamite

14 lMake 4haste, my beloved,

And mbe like a gazelle

Or a young stag

On the mountains of spices.