Mutual Delight in Each Other
1 “Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where is your beloved hiding himself,
That we may seek him with you?”
2 “My beloved has gone down to his garden,
To the beds of balsam,
To feedhis flockin the gardens
And gather lilies.
3 “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,
He who feedshis flockamong the lilies.”
4 “You are as beautiful asTirzah, my darling,
As lovely as Jerusalem,
As majestic as an army with banners!
5 “Turn your [flashing] eyes away from me,
For they have confusedandovercome me;
Your hair is like [the shimmering black fleece of] a flock of [Arabian] goats
That have descended from Mount Gilead.
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.
7 “Your temples are like a slice of the pomegranate
Behind your veil.
8 “There are sixty queens and eightyconcubines,
And maidens without number;
9 But my dove, my perfect one, stands alone [above them all];
She is her mother’s onlydaughter;
She is the purechildof the one who bore her.
The maidens saw her and called her blessedandhappy,
The queens and the concubines also, and they praised her,saying,
10 ‘Who is this that looks down like the dawn,
Fairandbeautiful as the full moon,
Clearandpure as the sun,
As majestic as an army with banners?’
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.
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].”
13 “Return, return, O Shulammite;
Return, return, that we may gaze at you.”
“Why should you gaze at the Shulammite,
As at the dance of the two armies?