The Song of Solomon, 6

¹ “Where has your dear one gone, O most beautiful of women? Which way did your dear one turn? Let us seek him with you.”

² “My dear one has gone down to his garden, To the beds of spice plants, To shepherd among the gardens And to pick lilies.

³ I am my dear one’s, And my dear one is mine. He is shepherding among the lilies.”

⁴ “You are as beautiful as Tirʹzah,^*1 my beloved, As lovely as Jerusalem, As breathtaking as armies around their banners.

⁵ Turn your eyes away from me, For they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats Streaming down the slopes of Gilʹe·ad.

⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of sheep That have come up from being washed, All of them bearing twins, And not one has lost her young.

⁷ Like a segment of pomegranate Are your cheeks^*1 behind your veil.

⁸ There may be 60 queens And 80 concubines And young women without number.

⁹ But only one is my dove, my flawless one. The only one of her mother. She is the favorite^*1 of the one who bore her. The daughters see her, and they pronounce her happy; Queens and concubines, and they praise her.

¹⁰ ‘Who is she who shines^*1 like the dawn, As beautiful as the full moon, As pure as the sunlight, As breathtaking as armies around their banners?’”

¹¹ “I went down to the garden of nut trees To see the new growth in the valley,^*1 To see whether the vine had sprouted,^*2 Whether the pomegranate trees had blossomed.

¹² Before I knew it, My desire^*1 had put me At the chariots of my noble^*2 people.”

¹³ “Return, return, O Shuʹlam·mite! Return, return, That we may look upon you!” “Why do you gaze upon the Shuʹlam·mite?” “She is like the dance of two companies!”^*1