< Song of Solomon 6 >
1 Whither is thy beloved gone, Thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? And we will seek him with thee.
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 is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, To feed 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 feedeth [his flock] among the lilies.
I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me. He pastures among the lilies.
4 Thou art fair, my love, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Terrible as troops 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 thine eyes from me, For they overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats On the slopes 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 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep Which go up from the washing; Which have all borne twins, And none is barren 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 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples Behind thy veil.
Like the skin of a pomegranate, so are your cheeks, except for your hiddenness.
8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, And virgins without number:
There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens without number.
9 My dove, mine undefiled, is but one; She is the only one of her mother, She is the choice one of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and they called her blessed; The queens and the concubines, 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 that looketh forth as the dawn, Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, Terrible as troops 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 garden of nuts, To see the verdure of the valley, To see whether the vine budded, Whether the pomegranates blossomed.
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 Before I was aware, My soul set me upon the chariots of my willing people.
I did not understand. My soul was stirred up within me because of the chariots of Amminadab.
13 Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may look upon thee. — What would ye look upon in the Shulamite? — As it were the dance of two camps.
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?