1 Where has your love gone,

most beautiful of women?

Which way has he  *  turned?

We will seek him with you.

2 My love has gone down to his garden,  *

to beds of spice,  *

to feed in the gardens  *

and gather lilies.  *

3 I am my love’s and my love is mine;  *

he feeds among the lilies.

4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,

lovely as Jerusalem,

awe-inspiring as an army with banners.  *

5 Turn your eyes away from me,

for they captivate me.  *

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down from Gilead.  *

6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

coming up from washing,

each one having a twin,

and not one missing.  *,*

7 Behind your veil,  *

your brow  * is like a slice of pomegranate.

8 There are sixty queens

and eighty concubines  *

and young women  * without number.

9 But my dove,  * my virtuous one, is unique;  *

she is the favorite of her mother,

perfect to the one who gave her birth.

Women see her and declare her fortunate;  *

queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:

10 Who is this  * who shines like the dawn,

as beautiful as the moon,

bright as the sun,

awe-inspiring as an army with banners?  *

11 I came down to the walnut grove

to see the blossoms of the valley,

to see if the vines were budding  *

and the pomegranates blooming.

12 I didn’t know what was happening to me.

I felt like I was

in a chariot with a nobleman.  *

13 Come back, come back, Shulammite!  *

Come back, come back, that we may look at you!

How you gaze at the Shulammite,

as you look at the dance  * of the two camps!  *,*