Song of Solomon 6
1 Where has your beloved gone, most beautiful among women? In what direction has your beloved gone, so that we may seek him with you?
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.
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to graze in the garden and to gather lilies.
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.
3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies with pleasure.
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].
4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my love, as lovely as Jerusalem, as awe-inspiring as an army with its banners.
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.
5 Turn your eyes away from me, for they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats going down from the slopes of Gilead.
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].
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes coming up from the washing place. Each one has a twin, and none among them is bereaved.
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.
7 Your cheeks are like pomegranate halves behind your veil.
Beneath your veil, your cheeks are like [SIM] the halves of a pomegranate.
8 There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and young women without number.
Even if a king had 60 queens and 80 (concubines/slave wives) and more young women than anyone can count,
9 My dove, my undefiled, is the only one; she is the only daughter of her mother; she is the favorite one of the woman who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines saw her also, and they praised her:
[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].
10 “Who is this who appears like the dawn, as beautiful as the moon, as bright as the sun, as awe-inspiring as an army with its banners?”
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?
11 I went down into the grove of nut trees to see the young growth in the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, and whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
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.
12 I was so happy that I felt I was riding in the chariot of a prince.
[But] before I realized it, my desire [to make love caused me to be as excited as] a prince riding in a chariot.
13 Turn back, turn back, you perfect woman; turn back, turn back so that we may gaze on you. The woman speaking to the friends Why do you gaze on the perfect woman, as if on the dance between two armies?
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?
