Song of Solomon, 6

1. CHORUS: Where did your lover go, O loveliest of women? Which way did your lover turn so that we can help you seek him?

1. Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

2. BELOVED: My love went down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock on the grass and gather lilies.

2. My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

3. I belong to my love, and my love to me. He pastures his flock among the lilies.

3. I [am] my beloved's, and my beloved [is] mine: he feedeth among the lilies.

4. LOVER: You are fair as Tirzah, my beloved, enchanting as Jerusalem, formidable as an army!

4. Thou [art] beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as [an army] with banners.

5. Turn your eyes away from me, they take me by assault! Your hair is like a flock of goats surging down the slopes of Gilead.

5. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair [is] as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.

6. Your teeth are like a flock of ewes as they come up from being washed. Each one has its twin, not one unpaired with another.

6. Thy teeth [are] as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and [there is] not one barren among them.

7. Your cheeks, behind your veil, are halves of pomegranate.

7. As a piece of a pomegranate [are] thy temples within thy locks.

8. There are sixty queens and eighty concubines (and countless girls).

8. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

9. My dove is my only one, perfect and mine. She is the darling of her mother, the favourite of the one who bore her. Girls have seen her and proclaimed her blessed, queens and concubines have sung her praises,

9. My dove, my undefiled is [but] one; she [is] the [only] one of her mother, she [is] the choice [one] of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; [yea], the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

10. 'Who is this arising like the dawn, fair as the moon, resplendent as the sun, formidable as an army?'

10. Who [is] she [that] looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, [and] terrible as [an army] with banners?

11. I went down to the nut orchard to see the fresh shoots in the valley, to see if the vines were budding and the pomegranate trees in flower.

11. I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, [and] to see whether the vine flourished, [and] the pomegranates budded.

12. Before I knew . . . my desire had hurled me onto the chariots of Amminadib!

12. Or ever I was aware, my soul made me [like] the chariots of Amminadib.

13.

13. Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.