Song of Solomon 6

Modern

Literal

Together in the Garden

The Friends

¹Where has your beloved gone,

O most beautiful among women?

Which way has he turned?

We will seek him with you.

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

The Bride

²My beloved has gone down to his garden,

to the beds of spices,

to pasture his flock in the gardens

and to gather lilies.

²My beloved has gone to his garden, to the beds of spice, to graze in the gardens and to gather up the lilies.

³I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me;

he pastures his flock among the lilies.

³I am unto my beloved and my beloved is unto me; he is grazing among the lilies.

The Bridegroom

⁴You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,

as lovely as Jerusalem,

as majestic as troops with banners.

⁴You are beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as bannered hosts.

⁵Turn your eyes away from me,

for they have overcome me.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down from Gilead.

⁵Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of the goats streaming down from the Gilead.

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of sheep

coming up from the washing;

each has its twin,

and not one of them is lost.

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing; each has its twin, and not a bereaved one is among them.

⁷Your brow behind your veil

is like a slice of pomegranate.

⁷Like the halves of the pomegranate is your temple behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,

and maidens without number,

⁸Sixty are they, the queens, and eighty the concubines, and maidens without number.

⁹but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,

the favorite of the mother who bore her.

The maidens see her and call her blessed;

the queens and concubines sing her praises.

⁹One she is, my dove, my perfect one; one she is, pure for her mother, she who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; and the queens and the concubines, they praised her.

The Friends

¹⁰Who is this who shines like the dawn,

as fair as the moon,

as bright as the sun,

as majestic as the stars in procession?

¹⁰Who is this one shining like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, pure as the sun, awesome as bannered hosts?

The Bridegroom

¹¹I went down to the walnut grove

to see the blossoms of the valley,

to see if the vines were budding

or the pomegranates were in bloom.

¹¹To the garden of the nut tree I went down, to look on the green of the valley, to see the vine had sprouted and the pomegranates had bloomed.

¹²Before I realized it, my desire had set me

among the royal chariots of my people.^a

¹²I did not know it, my soul had set me among the chariots of my noble people.

The Friends

The Bridegroom

¹³Come back, come back, O Shulammite!

Come back, come back, that we may gaze upon you.

Why do you look at the Shulammite,

as on the dance of Mahanaim?^a

¹³Return, return, O Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze on you. Why should you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance in of Mahanaim?