Young Women
1 Where has your love gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way has he turned?
We will seek him with you.
Woman
2 My love has gone down to his garden, b
to beds of spice, c
to feed in the gardens d
and gather lilies. e
3 I am my love’s and my love is mine; f
he feeds among the lilies.
Man
4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners. g
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
for they captivate me. h
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead. i
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing. ,j
7 Behind your veil, k
your brow is like a slice of pomegranate.
8 There are sixty queens
and eighty concubines l
and young women without number.
9 But my dove, m my virtuous one, is unique; n
she is the favorite of her mother,
perfect to the one who gave her birth.
Women see her and declare her fortunate; o
queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:
10 Who is this p who shines like the dawn,
as beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners? q
Woman
11 I came down to the walnut grove
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines were budding r
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.
Young Women
13 Come back, come back, Shulammite!
Come back, come back, that we may look at you!
Man
How you gaze at the Shulammite,
as you look at the dance s of the two camps! ,t
6:1–3. The women’s inquiry about where the woman’s beloved has gone (6:1) is not unexpected, since they want to search for her lover, but her response is surprising because it implies that she now knows where he is (6:2). This is poetry, and the logic of other genres is not to be expected. Her reply picks up on a number of expressions used earlier in the book. The woman herself is likely the garden, and she knows that he can be found with her grazing and gathering lilies, terms that imply intimacy. Her reflection about her lover has reaffirmed his immense worth to her and reminded her of a central reality in their relationship (6:3).
6:4–10. Tirzah was the capital of the northern kingdom for about fifty years (6:4). Jerusalem was located on a hill surrounded on three sides by valleys and would have been an impressive sight. This woman’s stunning beauty creates in the man the same feelings of awe produced when one sees a splendid city like Tirzah or Jerusalem or a powerful army on the move. On 6:5–7, see the comments on 4:1–3. [Banner]
6:11–12. The woman probably went to the nut orchard to check on the new spring growth, but nuts were often thought to possess both magical and sexual properties, and the same is true with vines and pomegranates in the Song (6:11).
6:13. The Hebrew word for “Shulammite” looks like a feminine form of “Solomon.” It may be related to the word shalom and mean something like “perfect one” (see the CSB footnote). It could be another way of saying that the man finds no blemish in her (cf. 4:7; 5:2). On the lips of the friends, it may reflect sarcasm.