New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 Where has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Which way has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?
1
So where has this love of yours gone, fair one? Where on earth can he be? Can we help you look for him?
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
2
Never mind. My lover is already on his way to his garden, to browse among the flowers, touching the colors and forms.
3 I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he pastures his flock among the lilies.
3
I am my lover's and my lover is mine. He caresses the sweet-smelling flowers.
4 You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
4
Dear, dear friend and lover, you're as beautiful as Tirzah, city of delights, Lovely as Jerusalem, city of dreams, the ravishing visions of my ecstasy.
5 Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.
5
Your beauty is too much for me - I'm in over my head. I'm not used to this! I can't take it in. Your hair flows and shimmers like a flock of goats in the distance streaming down a hillside in the sunshine.
6 Your 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.
6
Your smile is generous and full - expressive and strong and clean.
7 Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
7
Your veiled cheeks are soft and radiant.
8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number.
8
There's no one like her on earth, never has been, never will be.
9 My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the darling of her mother, flawless to her that bore her. The maidens saw her and called her happy; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.
9
She's a woman beyond compare. My dove is perfection, Pure and innocent as the day she was born, and cradled in joy by her mother. Everyone who came by to see her exclaimed and admired her - All the fathers and mothers, the neighbors and friends, blessed and 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?"
10
"Has anyone ever seen anything like this - dawn-fresh, moon-lovely, sun-radiant, ravishing as the night sky with its galaxies of stars?"
11 I 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.
11
One day I went strolling through the orchard, looking for signs of spring, Looking for buds about to burst into flower, anticipating readiness, ripeness.
12 Before I was aware, my fancy set me in a chariot beside my prince.
12
Before I knew it my heart was raptured, carried away by lofty thoughts!
13 Return, 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?
13
Dance, dance, dear Shulammite, Angel-Princess! Dance, and we'll feast our eyes on your grace! Everyone wants to see the Shulammite dance her victory dances of love and peace.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.