Song of Solomon 6; Song of Solomon 7; Song of Solomon 8

1 Most beautiful of women, where has your lover gone? Tell us which way your lover went, so that we can help you find him.

2 My lover has gone to his garden, where the balsam trees grow. He is feeding his flock in the garden and gathering lilies.

3 My lover is mine, and I am his; he feeds his flock among the lilies.

4 My love, you are as beautiful as Jerusalem, as lovely as the city of Tirzah, as breathtaking as these great cities.

5 Turn your eyes away from me; they are holding me captive. Your hair dances like a flock of goats bounding down the hills of Gilead.

6 Your teeth are as white as a flock of sheep that have just been washed. Not one of them is missing; they are all perfectly matched.

7 Your cheeks glow behind your veil.

8 Let the king have sixty queens, eighty concubines, young women without number!

9 But I love only one, and she is as lovely as a dove. She is her mother's only daughter, her mother's favorite child. All women look at her and praise her; queens and concubines sing her praises.

10 Who is this whose glance is like the dawn? She is beautiful and bright, as dazzling as the sun or the moon.

11 I have come down among the almond trees to see the young plants in the valley, to see the new leaves on the vines and the blossoms on the pomegranate trees.

12 I am trembling; you have made me as eager for love as a chariot driver is for battle.

13 Dance, dance, girl of Shulam. Let us watch you as you dance. Why do you want to watch me as I dance between the rows of onlookers?

1 What a magnificent young woman you are! How beautiful are your feet in sandals. The curve of your thighs is like the work of an artist.

2 A bowl is there, that never runs out of spiced wine. A sheaf of wheat is there, surrounded by lilies.

3 Your breasts are like twin deer, like two gazelles.

4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory. Your eyes are like the pools in the city of Heshbon, near the gate of that great city. Your nose is as lovely as the tower of Lebanon that stands guard at Damascus.

5 Your head is held high like Mount Carmel. Your braided hair shines like the finest satin; its beauty could hold a king captive.

6 How pretty you are, how beautiful; how complete the delights of your love.

7 You are as graceful as a palm tree, and your breasts are clusters of dates.

8 I will climb the palm tree and pick its fruit. To me your breasts are like bunches of grapes, your breath like the fragrance of apples,

9 and your mouth like the finest wine. Then let the wine flow straight to my lover, flowing over his lips and teeth.

10 I belong to my lover, and he desires me.

11 Come, darling, let's go out to the countryside and spend the night in the villages.

12 We will get up early and look at the vines to see whether they've started to grow, whether the blossoms are opening and the pomegranate trees are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

13 You can smell the scent of mandrakes, and all the pleasant fruits are near our door. Darling, I have kept for you the old delights and the new.

1 I wish that you were my brother, that my mother had nursed you at her breast. Then, if I met you in the street, I could kiss you and no one would mind.

2 I would take you to my mother's house, where you could teach me love. I would give you spiced wine, my pomegranate wine to drink.

3 Your left hand is under my head, and your right hand caresses me.

4 Promise me, women of Jerusalem, that you will not interrupt our love.

5 Who is this coming from the desert, arm in arm with her lover? Under the apple tree I woke you, in the place where you were born.

6 Close your heart to every love but mine; hold no one in your arms but me. Love is as powerful as death; passion is as strong as death itself. It bursts into flame and burns like a raging fire.

7 Water cannot put it out; no flood can drown it. But if any tried to buy love with their wealth, contempt is all they would get.

8 We have a young sister, and her breasts are still small. What will we do for her when a young man comes courting?

9 If she is a wall, we will build her a silver tower. But if she is a gate, we will protect her with panels of cedar.

10 I am a wall, and my breasts are its towers. My lover knows that with him I find contentment and peace.

11 Solomon has a vineyard in a place called Baal Hamon. There are farmers who rent it from him; each one pays a thousand silver coins.

12 Solomon is welcome to his thousand coins, and the farmers to two hundred as their share; I have a vineyard of my own!

13 Let me hear your voice from the garden, my love; my companions are waiting to hear you speak.

14 Come to me, my lover, like a gazelle, like a young stag on the mountains where spices grow.