1[Lad.] Whither is thy beloved gone, thou fairest among women? Whither hath thy beloved betaken himself? That we may seek him with thee.
2[M.] My beloved is gone down to his garden, To the beds of balsam, To feed in the gardens, And to gather lilies.
3I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine; He feedeth among the lilies.
4Beautiful art thou, my love, as Tirzah, Lovely as Jerusalem; But terrible as an army with banners.
5Turn away thine eyes from me! They overpower me! Thy locks are like a flock of goats, Which lie down upon Gilead.
6Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep, Which come up from the washing-place, Of which every one hath twins, And none is barren among them.
7As a divided pomegranate Are thy cheeks behind thy veil.
8Threescore are the queens, and fourscore the concubines, And the maidens without number.
9But my dove, my undefiled, is the one; She is the incomparable one of her mother, The darling of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; The queens and concubines, and they praised her.
10[Lov.] Who is this that looketh forth like the morning, Fair as the moon, bright as the sun, And terrible as an army with banners?
11[M.] I went down into the garden of nuts, To see the green plants of the valley, To see whether the vine blossomed, And the pomegranates budded.
12Or ever I was aware, My soul had made me like the chariots of the prince’s train.
13[Lad.] Return, return, O Shulamite! Return, return, that we may look upon thee! [M.] Why should ye look upon the Shulamite, As upon a dance of the hosts?