Song of Solomon 6

1 Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?

Chorus to Bride: Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? To where has your beloved turned aside, so that we may seek him with you?

2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

Bride: My beloved has descended to his garden, to the courtyard of aromatic plants, in order to pasture in the gardens and gather the lilies.

3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies.

I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me. He pastures among the lilies.

4 You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.

Groom to Bride: My love, you are beautiful: sweet and graceful, like Jerusalem; terrible, like an army in battle array.

5 Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead.

Avert your eyes from me, for they have caused me to fly away. Your hair is like a flock of goats, which have appeared out of Gilead.

6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing, of which every one has twins; not one is bereaved among them.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep, which have ascended from the washing, each one with its identical twin, and not one among them is barren.

7 Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

Like the skin of a pomegranate, so are your cheeks, except for your hiddenness.

8 There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number.

There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens without number.

9 My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother’s only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed. The queens and the concubines saw her, and they praised her.

One is my dove, my perfect one. One is her mother; elect is she who bore her. The daughters saw her, and they proclaimed her most blessed. The queens and concubines saw her, and they praised her.

10 Who is she who looks out as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?

Chorus to Groom: Who is she, who advances like the rising dawn, as beautiful as the moon, as elect as the sun, as terrible as an army in battle array?

11 I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.

Bride: I descended to the garden of nuts, in order to see the fruits of the steep valleys, and to examine whether the vineyard had flourished and the pomegranates had produced buds.

12 Without realizing it, my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots.

I did not understand. My soul was stirred up within me because of the chariots of Amminadab.

13 Return, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Lover Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?

Chorus to Bride: Return, return, O Sulamitess. Return, return, so that we may consider you. Chorus to Groom: What will you see in the Sulamitess, other than choruses of encampments?