Song Of Solomon 6

AMP — Amplified Bible (AMP)

NLT — New Living Translation Bible (NLT)

Verse 1

“Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where is your beloved hiding himself,
That we may seek him with you?”

(The Shulammite Bride)

Where has your lover gone,
O woman of rare beauty?
Which way did he turn
so we can help you find him?

Young Woman

Verse 2

“My beloved has gone down to his garden,
To the beds of balsam,
To feed his flock in the gardens
And gather lilies.

My lover has gone down to his garden,
to his spice beds,
to browse in the gardens
and gather the lilies.

Verse 3

“I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,
He who feeds his flock among the lilies.”

(The Bridegroom)

I am my lover’s, and my lover is mine.
He browses among the lilies.

Young Man

Verse 4

“You are as beautiful as ^[a]Tirzah, my darling,
As lovely as Jerusalem,
As majestic as an army with banners!

You are beautiful, my darling,
like the lovely city of Tirzah.
Yes, as beautiful as Jerusalem,
as majestic as an army with billowing banners.

Verse 5

“Turn your [flashing] eyes away from me,
For they have confused and overcome me;
Your hair is like [the shimmering black fleece of] a flock of [Arabian] goats
That have descended from Mount Gilead.

Turn your eyes away,
for they overpower me.
Your hair falls in waves,
like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.

Verse 6

“Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
Which have come up from their washing,
All of which bear twins,
And not one among them has lost her young.

Your teeth are as white as sheep
that are freshly washed.
Your smile is flawless,
each tooth matched with its twin.^[a]

Verse 7

“Your temples are like a slice of the pomegranate
Behind your veil.

Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates
behind your veil.

Verse 8

“There are sixty queens and eighty ^[b]concubines,
And maidens without number;

Even among sixty queens
and eighty concubines
and countless young women,

Verse 9

But my dove, my perfect one, stands alone [above them all];
She is her mother’s only daughter;
She is the pure child of the one who bore her.
The maidens saw her and called her blessed and happy,
The queens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,

I would still choose my dove, my perfect one—
    the favorite of her mother,
    dearly loved by the one who bore her.
The young women see her and praise her;
    even queens and royal concubines sing her praises:

Verse 10

‘Who is this that looks down like the dawn,
Fair and beautiful as the full moon,
Clear and pure as the sun,
As majestic as an army with banners?’

“Who is this, arising like the dawn,
as fair as the moon,
as bright as the sun,
as majestic as an army with billowing banners?”

Young Woman

Verse 11

“I went down to the orchard of nut trees
To see the flowers of the valley,
To see whether the grapevine had budded
And the pomegranates were in flower.

I went down to the grove of walnut trees
and out to the valley to see the new spring growth,
to see whether the grapevines had budded
or the pomegranates were in bloom.

Verse 12

“Before I was aware [of what was happening], my desire had brought me
Into the area of the princes of my people [the king’s retinue].”

(The Chorus)

Before I realized it,
my strong desires had taken me to the chariot of a noble man.^[b]

Young Women of Jerusalem

Verse 13

“Return, return, O Shulammite;
Return, return, that we may gaze at you.”

^[c]Return, return to us, O maid of Shulam.
Come back, come back, that we may see you again.

Young Man

Why do you stare at this young woman of Shulam,
as she moves so gracefully between two lines of dancers?^[d]