The Friends

1Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you.

The Bride

2My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.

3I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

Mutual Delight

4You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.

5Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.

6Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin, and not one of them is lost.

7Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

8There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number,

9but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the favorite of the mother who bore her. The maidens see her and call her blessed; the queens and concubines sing her praises.

10Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?

The Bride

11I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.

12Before I realized it, my desire had set me among the royal chariots of my people.

The Friends

13Come back, come back, O Shulammite! Come back, come back, that we may gaze upon you. Why do you look at the Shulammite, as on the dance of Mahanaim