Holman Christian Standard Bible CSB
English Standard Version ESV
1 Where has your love gone, most beautiful of women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you.
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Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?
2 My love has gone down to his garden, to beds of spice, to feed in the gardens and gather lilies.
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My beloved has gone down to his garden to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies.
3 I am my love's and my love is mine; he feeds among the lilies.
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I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies.
4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, lovely as Jerusalem, awe-inspiring as an army with banners.
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You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn your eyes away from me, for they captivate me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.
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Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me— Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes coming up from washing, each one having a twin, and not one missing.
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Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing; all of them bear twins; not one among them has lost its young.
7 Behind your veil, your brow is like a slice of pomegranate.
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Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
8 There are 60 queens and 80 concubines and young women without number.
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There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.
9 But my dove, my virtuous one, is unique; she is the favorite of her mother, perfect to the one who gave her birth. Women see her and declare her fortunate; queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:
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My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.
10 Who is thiswho shines like the dawn- as beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awe-inspiring as an army with banners?
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“Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners? ”
11 I came down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding and the pomegranates blooming.
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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.
12 Before I knew it, my desire put me [among] the chariots of my noble people.
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Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.
13 Come back, come back, Shulammite! Come back, come back, that we may look at you! Why are you looking at the Shulammite, as you [look] at the dance of the two camps?
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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?
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025