The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
New International Version NIV
1 [Chorus] Where has your darling gone, you most beautiful of women? Which way did your darling turn, so that we can help you find him?
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Where has your beloved gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your beloved turn, that we may look for him with you?
2 [She] My darling went down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.
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My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies.
3 I belong to the man I love, and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies.
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I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies.
4 [He] You are as beautiful as Tirtzah, my love, as lovely as Yerushalayim, but formidable as an army marching under banners.
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You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.
5 Turn your eyes away from me, because they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Gil'ad.
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Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that have just come up from being washed; each of them is matched, and none of them is missing.
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Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is missing.
7 Your cheeks are like a pomegranate split open behind your veil.
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Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.
8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, as well as young women beyond number;
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Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number;
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, her mother's only child, the darling of the one who bore her.
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but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her.
10 The daughters see her and call her happy; the queens and concubines praise her. "Who is this, shining forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun"-but formidable as an army marching under banners?
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Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?
11 [She] I had gone down to the nut orchard to see the fresh green plants in the valley, to see if the vine had budded,
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I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 or if the pomegranate trees were in bloom. Before I knew it, I found myself in a chariot, and with me was a prince.
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Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.
13 [Chorus] Come back, come back, girl from Shulam! Come back, come back to where we can see you! Why are you looking at the girl from Shulam as if she were dancing for two army camps?
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Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you! Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim?
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.