¹ Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned that we may seek him with you?

Mutual Possession Refrain

² My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the garden bed of the spice, to pasture his flock and to gather lilies in the garden.

Solomon’s Praise of His Beloved

³ ⌞I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me⌟;¹ he pastures his flock among the lilies.

1. Literally “I for my beloved and he for me”

⁴ You are beautiful, my beloved, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, ⌞overwhelming as an army with banners⌟.¹

1. Literally “terrible as the bannered ones”

⁵ Turn away your eyes from before me, for they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of the goats that moves down from Gilead.

⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of the ewes that have come up from the washing, all of them bearing twins, and there is none bereaved among them.

The Maiden’s Beauty Is without Peer

⁷ Your cheeks ⌞behind⌟¹ your veil are like halves of a pomegranate.

1. Literally “from behind”

⁸ Sixty queens there are, eighty concubines, and maidens beyond number.

⁹ My dove, ⌞she is the one⌟;¹² my perfect, ⌞she is the only one⌟;³⁴ she is ⌞the favorite of⌟⁵⁶ her mother who bore her. Maidens see her and consider her fortunate;⁷ queens and concubines praise her:

1. Literally “she is one”
2. The term “one” functions here as an adjective of quality: “unique, singular, the only one”
3. Literally “she is one”
4. Or “the only daughter of her mother.” Although the latter option is permissible, the term is used elsewhere of the heir as the favored child (e.g., Gen 22:2; Prov 4:3). This nuance is supported by the parallel term “favorite”
5. Or “she is the pure one.” Since there are two Hebrew terms spelled the same way, some relate this to the adjective that means “pure.” Others relate it to the verb that means “to choose, select.” The parallelism favors the latter
6. Literally “the favorite for”
7. Or “call her happy” or “call her blessed” or “bless her”

The Journey to the Valley

¹⁰ “Who is this that looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, ⌞bright as the sun⌟,¹² ⌞overwhelming as an army with banners⌟?”³

1. Literally “pure as the glow”
2. Or “bright as the heat of the sun.” The Hebrew term “glow” poetically refers to the bright rays of the sun (Psa 19:7; Isa 24:23; 30:26)
3. Literally “terrible as the bannered ones”

¹¹ I went down to the orchard of the walnut trees to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vine s have sprouted, whether the pomegranates have blossomed.

¹² I did not know my ⌞heart⌟¹ set me in a chariot of my princely people.²

1. Literally “soul”
2. Or “Before I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib” (KJV, ASV) or “Before I knew it, my desire set me mid the chariots of Ammi-nadib” (JPS) or “Before I was aware, my soul set me over the chariots of my noble people” (NASB) or “Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people” (NIV) or “… among the chariots of Amminadab” (NIV margin) or “… among the chariots of the people of the prince” (NIV margin)

^{13 1} Turn, turn,² O Shulammite!³ Turn, turn⁴ so that we may look upon you! Why do you look upon the Shulammite as at a dance of the two armies?

1. Song of Songs 6:13–7:13 in the English Bible is 7:1–14 in the Hebrew Bible
2. Or “Return, return …!”
3. Or “O perfect one,” “O peaceful one,” “O bride.” Many interpreters take this moniker as suggesting the maiden was from the village of Shulem (alternately called Shunem)
4. Or “Return, return …!”