Song of Solomon 6

1 You who are the most beautiful of all the women, where has the one who loves you gone? [If you tell us] which [RHQ] direction he went, we will go with you to search for him.

Where is your loved one gone, O most fair among women? Where is your loved one turned away, that we may go looking for him with you?

2 The one who loves me has now come [to me, who am like] [MET, EUP] his garden, He has come to [enjoy my (charms/physical attractions) which are like] [MET, EUP] spices, to enjoy cuddling up to me [EUP, MET], and [kissing my lips, which are like] [MET] lilies.

My loved one is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to take food in the gardens, and to get lilies.

3 I belong to the one who loves me, and the one who loves me belongs to me; he [enjoys kissing] my lips like [MET] [a shepherd enjoys] taking care of [his sheep].

I am for my loved one, and my loved one is for me; he takes food among the lilies.

4 My darling, you are beautiful, like [SIM] Tirzah [the capital city of Israel] and Jerusalem [the capital city of Judah are beautiful]; you are as exciting [MET] as a [group/battalion of] troops holding up their banners.

You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, as fair as Jerusalem; you are to be feared like an army with flags.

5 Quit looking at me like that, because your eyes excite me very much. Your [long black] hair [moves from side to side] like [SIM] a flock of [black] goats [moving down the slopes] of Gilead [Mountain].

Let your eyes be turned away from me; see, they have overcome me; your hair is as a flock of goats which take their rest on the side of Gilead.

6 Your teeth are [very white] like [SIM] a flock of sheep [whose wool] has just been shorn and that have come up from being washed [in a stream]. You have all of your teeth; none of them is missing.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which come up from the washing; every one has two lambs, and there is not one without young.

7 Beneath your veil, your cheeks are like [SIM] the halves of a pomegranate.

Like pomegranate fruit are the sides of your head under your veil.

8 Even if a king had 60 queens and 80 (concubines/slave wives) and more young women than anyone can count,

There are sixty queens, and eighty servant-wives, and young girls without number.

9 [none of them would be like] my dove, who is perfect, you who are your mother’s only daughter, whom your mother considers to be very precious. [Other] young women who see you say that you are fortunate, and the queens and concubines recognize that you [are very beautiful].

My dove, my very beautiful one, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the dearest one of her who gave her birth. The daughters saw her, and gave her a blessing; yes, the queens and the servant-wives, and they gave her praises.

10 Who is [RHQ] this woman who is [as delightful] as [SIM] the dawn, as fair/delightful [to look at] as [the light of] the moon, as exciting as a [group/battalion of] troops holding up their banners?

Who is she, looking down as the morning light, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, who is to be feared like an army with flags?

11 I went down to some walnut trees to look at the new plants that were growing in the valley. I wanted to see if the grapevines had budded or if the pomegranate trees were blooming.

I went down into the garden of nuts to see the green plants of the valley, and to see if the vine was in bud, and the pomegranate-trees were in flower.

12 [But] before I realized it, my desire [to make love caused me to be as excited as] a prince riding in a chariot.

Before I was conscious of it, ...

13 You who are the perfect one, come back [to us], in order that we may see you! Why do you want to look at this woman who is perfect, like [SIM] you like to watch two rows/lines of people dancing?

Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, so that our eyes may see you. What will you see in the Shulammite? A sword-dance.