Friends

1 Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women?

Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?

Beloved

2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,

to the beds of spices,

to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.

He browses among the lilies.

Lover

4 You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah,

lovely as Jerusalem,

awesome as an army with banners.

5 Turn 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 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes,

which have come up from the washing,

of which every one has twins;

not one is bereaved among them.

7 Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

8 There are sixty queens, eighty concubines,

and virgins without number.

9 My 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 saw her, and they praised her.

10 Who 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 Without realizing it,

my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots.

Friends

13 Return, 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?

1 Whither hath thy beloved gone, O fair among women? Whither hath thy beloved turned, And we seek him with thee?

2 My beloved went down to his garden, To the beds of the spice, To delight himself in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

3 I [am] my beloved`s, and my beloved [is] mine, Who is delighting himself among the lilies.

4 Fair [art] thou, my friend, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Awe-inspiring as bannered hosts.

5 Turn round thine eyes from before me, Because they have made me proud. Thy hair [is] as a row of the goats, That have shone from Gilead,

6 Thy teeth as a row of the lambs, That have come up from the washing, Because all of them are forming twins, And a bereaved one is not among them.

7 As the work of the pomegranate [is] thy temple behind thy veil.

8 Sixty are queens, and eighty concubines, And virgins without number.

9 One is my dove, my perfect one, One she [is] of her mother, The choice one she [is] of her that bare her, Daughters saw, and pronounce her happy, Queens and concubines, and they praise her.

10 `Who [is] this that is looking forth as morning, Fair as the moon -- clear as the sun, Awe-inspiring as bannered hosts?`

11 Unto a garden of nuts I went down, To look on the buds of the valley, To see whither the vine had flourished, The pomegranates had blossomed --

12 I knew not my soul, It made me -- chariots of my people Nadib.

13 Return, return, O Shulammith! Return, return, and we look upon thee. What do ye see in Shulammith?