Song 6 | HCSB | STEP | Y : Where has your love gone , most beautiful of women ? Which way has he turned ? We will seek him with you.

Song of Solomon 6

1 Y : Where has your love gone,

most beautiful of women?
Which way has he ^{▼▼Lit your love} turned?
We will seek him with you.

2 W : My love has gone down to his garden, ^b
to beds of spice, ^c
to feed in the gardens ^d
and gather lilies. ^e
3 I am my love’s and my love is mine; ^f
he feeds among the lilies.

4 M : You are as beautiful as Tirzah, ^{▼▼= a mountain city in Manasseh} my darling,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners. ^h
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
for they captivate me. ⁱ
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead. ^j
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing. ^{▼▼Lit and no one bereaved among them
,} ^l
7 Behind your veil, ^m
your brow ^{▼▼Or temple, or cheek, or lips} is like a slice of pomegranate.
8 There are 60 queens
and 80 concubines ^o
and young women ^{▼▼Or and virgins; Sg 1:3} without number.
9 But my dove, ^q my virtuous one, is unique; ^r
she is the favorite of her mother,
perfect to the one who gave her birth.
Women see her and declare her fortunate; ^s
queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:

10 Y : ^{▼▼Some see v. 10 as spoken by M : .}Who is this ^{▼▼In Hb, the word for “this” is feminine.
,} ^v who shines like the dawn –
as beautiful as the moon,
bright as the sun,
awe-inspiring as an army with banners? ^w

11 W : I came down to the walnut grove
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines were budding ^x
and the pomegranates blooming.
12 Before I knew it,
my desire put me
among the chariots of my noble people. ^{▼▼Or of Amminadib, or of my people of a prince; Hb obscure}

13 ^{▼▼Sg 7:1 in Hb}Y : Come back, come back, Shulammite! ^{▼▼Or the peaceable one
,} ^{▼▼Perhaps an inhabitant of the town of Shunem, or a feminine form of Solomon’s name}
Come back, come back, that we may look at you!

M : Why are you looking at the Shulammite,
as you look at the dance ^ac of the two camps? ^{▼▼Or dance of Mahanaim
,} ^ae