The Search for Solomon
The Daughters of Jerusalem:
6:1 Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned?
Tell us that we may seek him with you.1
The Beloved:
6:2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,2
To the flower-beds of balsam-spices;3
To browse4
in the gardens,
And to gather lilies.5
The Poetic Refrain
The Beloved:
6:3 I am my lover’s 6and
my lover is mine;7
He grazes among the lilies.
The Renewal of Love
The Lover:
6:4 My darling, you are beautiful as Tirzah,8
As lovely as Jerusalem,
As awe-inspiring9
as bannered armies!
6:5 Turn your eyes away from me;
They overwhelm10
me!
Your hair is like a flock of goats
Descending from Mount Gilead.
6:6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
Coming up from the washing;
Each has its twin,
Not one of them is missing.
6:7 Like a slice of pomegranate
Is your temple11
behind your veil.
6:8 Sixty12
queens there may be,
And eighty concubines,
And maidens13
beyond number.
6:9 But she is the only one14
for me,15
My dove, my perfect one;
She is the special daughter16
of her mother,
She is the favorite17
of the one who bore her.
The maidens18
saw her and called her blessed;19
The queens and concubines praised her:
6:10 “Who20
is this who appears21
like the dawn? 22
Beautiful as the moon,23
bright24
as the sun,
Awe-inspiring25
as the stars in procession?”26
The Return to the Vineyards
6:11 I27
went down to the orchard of walnut-trees,28
To look for the blossoms of the valley,29
To see if the vines had budded,
Or if the pomegranates were in bloom.
6:12 I was beside myself with joy!
There, please give me your “myrrh,”
O nobleman’s daughter.30
The Wasfs Song and Dance
Solomon to Shulammith:
6:1331
Turn32,
turn, O33
Shulammith!34
Turn, turn, that I35
might stare at you!
Shulammith to Solomon:
Why36
do you gaze upon the Shulammith
Like the dance of the Mahanaim?37