Together in the Garden

6  The Friends

6 Where has your beloved gone,

O most beautiful among women?

Which way has he turned?

We will seek him with you.

The Bride

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 belong to my beloved and [he] belongs to me;

he pastures [his flock] among the lilies.

The Bridegroom

4 You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,

as lovely as Jerusalem,

as majestic as troops with banners.

5 Turn your eyes away from me,

for they have overcome me.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down from Gilead.

6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep

coming up from the washing;

each has its twin,

and not one of them [is] lost.

7 Your brow behind your veil

is like a slice of pomegranate.

8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,

and maidens without number,

9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,

the favorite of the mother who bore her.

The maidens see her and call her blessed;

the queens and concubines sing her praises.

The Friends

10 Who is this who shines like the dawn,

as fair as the moon,

as bright as the sun,

as majestic as the stars in procession?

The Bridegroom

11 I went down to the walnut grove

to see the blossoms of the valley,

to see if the vines were budding

or the pomegranates [were] in bloom.

12 Before I realized it, my desire had set me

among the royal chariots of my people.[fn]

The Friends

13 Come back, come back, O Shulammite!

Come back, come back, that we may gaze upon you.

The Bridegroom

Why do you look at the Shulammite,

as on the dance of Mahanaim[fn]?