1 W here has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? Beloved
2 M y beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies,
4 Y ou are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.
5 T urn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead.
6 Y our teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing; of which every one has twins; no one is bereaved among them.
7 Y our temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
8 T here are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number.
9 M y dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother’s only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
10 W ho is she who looks out as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?
11 I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.
12 W ithout realizing it, my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots. Friends
13 R eturn, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Lover Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?