Song of Solomon 6–8

⁶Where has your beloved gone,

O fairest among women?

Which way has your beloved turned

that we may seek him with you?^*

²My beloved has gone down to his garden,

to the beds of spices,

to pasture his flock in the gardens

and to gather lilies.^*

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

he pastures his flock among the lilies.^*

The Young Woman’s Matchless Beauty

⁴You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,

comely as Jerusalem,

terrible as an army with banners.^*

⁵Turn away your eyes from me,

for they overwhelm me!

Your hair is like a flock of goats,

moving down the slopes of Gilead.^*

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

that have come up from the washing;

all of them bear twins,

and not one among them is bereaved.^*

⁷Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.^*

⁸There are sixty queens and eighty concubines

and maidens without number.^*

⁹My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,

the darling of her mother,

flawless to her who bore her.

The maidens saw her and called her happy;

the queens and concubines praised her.^*

¹⁰“Who is this that looks forth like the dawn,

fair as the moon, bright as the sun,

terrible as an army with banners?”^*

¹¹I went down to the nut orchard

to look at the blossoms of the valley,

to see whether the vines had budded,

whether the pomegranates were in bloom.^*

¹²Before I was aware, my desire set me

in a chariot beside my prince.^l

^13mReturn, return, O Shulammite!

Return, return, that we may look upon you.

Why should you look upon the Shulammite,

as upon a dance before two armies?^n*

Expressions of Praise

⁷How graceful are your feet in sandals,

O queenly maiden!

Your rounded thighs are like jewels,

the work of a master hand.^*

²Your navel is a rounded bowl;

may it never lack mixed wine.

Your belly is a heap of wheat,

encircled with lilies.

³Your two breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle.^*

⁴Your neck is like an ivory tower.

Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,

by the gate of Bath-rabbim.

Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,

overlooking Damascus.^*

⁵Your head crowns you like Carmel,

and your flowing locks are like purple;

a king is held captive in the tresses.^*

⁶How fair and pleasant you are,

O loved one, delectable maiden!^o*

⁷You are stately^p as a palm tree,

and your breasts are like its clusters.

⁸I said, “I will climb the palm tree

and lay hold of its branches.”

O may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,

and the scent of your breath like apples,^*

⁹and your kisses^q like the best wine

that goes down^r smoothly,

gliding over lips and teeth.^s

¹⁰I am my beloved’s,

and his desire is for me.^*

¹¹Come, my beloved,

let us go forth into the fields

and lodge in the villages;

¹²let us go out early to the vineyards;

let us see whether the vines have budded,

whether the grape blossoms have opened

and the pomegranates are in bloom.

There I will give you my love.^*

¹³The mandrakes give forth fragrance,

and over our doors are all choice fruits,

new as well as old,

which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.^*

⁸O that you were like a brother to me,

who nursed at my mother’s breast!

If I met you outside, I would kiss you,

and no one would despise me.

²I would lead you and bring you

into my mother’s house

and into the chamber of the one who bore me.^t

I would give you spiced wine to drink,

from the juice of my pomegranates.^*

³O that his left hand were under my head

and that his right hand embraced me!^*

⁴I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

do not stir up or awaken love

until it is ready!^*

Homecoming

⁵Who is that coming up from the wilderness,

leaning upon her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.

There your mother was in labor with you;

there she who bore you was in labor.^*

⁶Set me as a seal upon your heart,

as a seal upon your arm,

for love is strong as death,

passion fierce as the grave.

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

a raging flame.^*

⁷Many waters cannot quench love,

neither can floods drown it.

If one offered for love

all the wealth of one’s house,

it^u would be utterly scorned.

⁸We have a little sister,

and she has no breasts.

What shall we do for our sister,

on the day when she is spoken for?^*

⁹If she is a wall,

we will build upon her a battlement of silver,

but if she is a door,

we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

¹⁰I was a wall,

and my breasts were like towers;

then I was in his eyes

as one who brings^v peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;

he entrusted the vineyard to keepers;

each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.^*

¹²My vineyard, my very own, is for myself;

you, O Solomon, may have the thousand

and the keepers of the fruit two hundred!

¹³O you who dwell in the gardens,

my companions are listening for your voice;

let me hear it.^*

¹⁴Make haste, my beloved,

and be like a gazelle

or a young stag

upon the mountains of spices!^*