1 Where has your lover gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your lover turn, that we may look for him with you? |
2 My lover has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. |
3 I am my lover's and my lover is mine; he browses among the lilies. |
4 You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, majestic as troops with banners. |
5 Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead. |
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is alone. |
7 Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate. |
8 Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number; |
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The maidens saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her. |
10 Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession? |
11 I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom. |
12 Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people. |
13 Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you! Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim? |