1Where has your beloved gone,

O fairest among women?

Which way has your beloved turned

that we may seek him with you?*

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 am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine;

he pastures his flock among the lilies.*

4You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,

comely as Jerusalem,

terrible as an army with banners.*

5Turn away your eyes from me,

for they overwhelm me!

Your hair is like a flock of goats,

moving down the slopes of Gilead.*

6Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

that have come up from the washing;

all of them bear twins,

and not one among them is bereaved.*

7Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.*

8There are sixty queens and eighty concubines

and maidens without number.*

9My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,

the darling of her mother,

flawless to her who bore her.

The maidens saw her and called her happy;

the queens and concubines praised her.*

10“Who is this that looks forth like the dawn,

fair as the moon, bright as the sun,

terrible as an army with banners?”*

11I 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.*

12Before I was aware, my desire set me

in a chariot beside my prince.l

13mReturn, 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?n^,*