New International Version NIV
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Where has your beloved gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your beloved turn, that we may look for him with you?
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Where is your loved one gone, O most fair among women? Where is your loved one turned away, that we may go looking for him with you?
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies.
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My loved one is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to take food in the gardens, and to get lilies.
3 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies.
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I am for my loved one, and my loved one is for me; he takes food among the lilies.
4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.
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You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, as fair as Jerusalem; you are to be feared like an army with flags.
5 Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead.
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Let your eyes be turned away from me; see, they have overcome me; your hair is as a flock of goats which take their rest on the side of Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is missing.
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Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which come up from the washing; every one has two lambs, and there is not one without young.
7 Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.
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Like pomegranate fruit are the sides of your head under your veil.
8 Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number;
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There are sixty queens, and eighty servant-wives, and young girls without number.
9 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.
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My dove, my very beautiful one, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the dearest one of her who gave her birth. The daughters saw her, and gave her a blessing; yes, the queens and the servant-wives, and they gave her praises.
10 Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?
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Who is she, looking down as the morning light, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, who is to be feared like an army with flags?
11 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.
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I went down into the garden of nuts to see the green plants of the valley, and to see if the vine was in bud, and the pomegranate-trees were in flower.
12 Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.
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Before I was conscious of it, ...
13 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?
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Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, so that our eyes may see you. What will you see in the Shulammite? A sword-dance.
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.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.