[1] Where has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with you? [2] My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies. [3] I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he feeds his flock among the lilies. [4] You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, comely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners! [5] Turn your eyes away from me, for they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead. [6] your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing; all of them bear twins; not one among them has lost its young; [7] your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. [8] There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number. [9] My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, choice to her who bore her. The maidens saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her. [10] Who is this who looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, radiant as the sun, awesome as an army with banners? [11] I went down to the nut orchard to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom. [12] Before I was aware, my soul set me in a chariot beside my prince. [13] Return, return, O Shulammite! Return, return, that we may look upon you. Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies?
