1 Where has your lover gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way did your lover turn,
that we may look for him with you? |
2 My lover has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
and to gather lilies. |
3 I am my lover's and my lover is mine;
he browses among the lilies. |
4 You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,
lovely as Jerusalem,
majestic as troops with banners. |
5 Turn your eyes from me;
they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Gilead. |
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
not one of them is alone. |
7 Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate. |
8 Sixty queens there may be,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number; |
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
the only daughter of her mother,
the favorite of the one who bore her.
The maidens saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines praised her. |
10 Who is this that appears like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
majestic as the stars in procession? |
11 I went down to the grove of nut trees
to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see if the vines had budded
or the pomegranates were in bloom. |
12 Before I realized it,
my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.1 6:12 Or among the chariots of Amminadab ; or among the chariots of the people of the prince |
13 Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
come back, come back, that we may gaze on you! |
