6 Where has your beloved gone,
    O ^(A)most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
    that we may seek him with you?

² My beloved has gone down to his ^(B)garden
    to ^(C)the beds of spices,
to ^(D)graze^[a] in the gardens
    and to gather ^(E)lilies.
^3 (F)I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
    he grazes among the lilies.

⁴ You are beautiful as ^(G)Tirzah, ^(H)my love,
    ^(I)lovely as ^(J)Jerusalem,
    ^(K)awesome as an army with banners.
⁵ Turn away your eyes from me,
    for they overwhelm me—
^(L)Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
^6 (M)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 (N)Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
⁸ There are ^(O)sixty ^(P)queens and eighty ^(Q)concubines,
    and ^(R)virgins without number.
⁹ My ^(S)dove, my ^(T)perfect one, is the only one,
    the only one of her mother,
    pure to ^(U)her who bore her.
^(V)The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    ^(W)the queens and ^(X)concubines also, and they praised her.

¹¹ I went down to the nut orchard
    to look at ^(AA)the blossoms of the valley,
^(AB)to see whether the vines had budded,
    whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
^12 (AC)Before I was aware, my desire set me
    among ^(AD)the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.^[b]

^13 [c] Return, return, O ^(AE)Shulammite,
    return, return, that we may look upon you.

Why should you look upon ^(AF)the Shulammite,
    as upon ^(AG)a dance before ^(AH)two armies?^[d]

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
    gliding over lips and teeth.^[g]

^11 (BA)Come, my beloved,
    let us go out into the fields
    and lodge in the villages;^[h]
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
    ^(BB)and see whether the vines have budded,
whether ^(BC)the grape blossoms have opened
    and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
^13 (BD)The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
    and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
^(BE)new as well as old,
    which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

8 Oh that you were like a brother to me
    who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
    and none would despise me.
² I would lead you and ^(BF)bring you
    into the house of my mother—
    she who used to teach me.
I would give you ^(BG)spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranate.
^3 (BH)His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
⁴ I ^(BI)adjure you, O ^(BJ)daughters of Jerusalem,
    ^(BK)that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

⁸ We have a little sister,
    and she ^(BR)has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
    on the day when she is spoken for?
⁹ If she is a wall,
    we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
    we will enclose her with ^(BS)boards of cedar.

^10 (BT)I was a wall,
    and my ^(BU)breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
    as one who finds^[l] peace.

^13 (CA)O you who dwell in the gardens,
    with ^(CB)companions listening for your voice;
    ^(CC)let me hear it.

^14 (CD)Make haste, my beloved,
    and be ^(CE)like a gazelle
or a young stag
    on ^(CF)the mountains of spices.