Song of Solomon 6–8

Chapter 6

¹Whither has your beloved gone,

O fairest among women?

Whither 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.

⁴You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,

comely as Jerusalem,

terrible as an army with banners.

⁵Turn away your eyes from me,

for they disturb 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,

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 only one,

the darling of her mother,

flawless to her that bore her.

The maidens saw her and called her happy;

the queens and concubines also, and they 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 fancy set me

in a chariot beside my prince.ⁿ

¹³ Return, 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?^p

Chapter 7

¹How 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

that never lacks 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.^q

⁶How fair and pleasant you are,

O loved one, delectable maiden!^r

⁷You are stately^s as a palm tree,

and your breasts are like its clusters.

⁸I say I will climb the palm tree

and lay hold of its branches.

Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,

and the scent of your breath like apples,

⁹and your kisses^t like the best wine

that goes down^u smoothly,

gliding over lips and teeth.^v

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,

and 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.

Chapter 8

¹O that you were like a brother to me,

that nursed at my mother’s breast!

If I met you outside, I would kiss you,

and none would despise me.

²I would lead you and bring you

into the house of my mother,

and into the chamber of her that conceived me.^w

I would give you spiced wine to drink,

the juice of my pomegranates.

³O that his left hand were under my head,

and that his right hand embraced me!

⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

that you stir not up nor awaken love

until it please.

⁵Who is that coming up from the wilderness,

leaning upon her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.

There your mother was in travail with you,

there she who bore you was in travail.

⁶Set me as a seal upon your heart,

as a seal upon your arm;

for love is strong as death,

jealousy is cruel as the grave.

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

a most vehement flame.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love,

neither can floods drown it.

If a man offered for love

all the wealth of his house,

it 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^x peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;

he let out 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.