Song of Solomon 6:1-11

1 Where has your lover gone, O woman of rare beauty? Which way did he turn so we can help you find him?

2 My lover has gone down to his garden, to his spice beds, to browse in the gardens and gather the lilies.

3 I am my lover’s, and my lover is mine. He browses among the lilies.

4 You are beautiful, my darling, like the lovely city of Tirzah. Yes, as beautiful as Jerusalem, as majestic as an army with billowing banners.

5 Turn your eyes away, for they overpower me. Your hair falls in waves, like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.

6 Your teeth are as white as sheep that are freshly washed. Your smile is flawless, each tooth matched with its twin.

7 Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates behind your veil.

8 Even among sixty queens and eighty concubines and countless young women,

9 I would still choose my dove, my perfect one— the favorite of her mother, dearly loved by the one who bore her. The young women see her and praise her; even queens and royal concubines sing her praises:

10 “Who is this, arising like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as an army with billowing banners?”

11 I went down to the grove of walnut trees and out to the valley to see the new spring growth, to see whether the grapevines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom.

Song of Solomon 6:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SONG OF SOLOMON 6

The discourse between the church and the daughters of Jerusalem is continued in this chapter: they inquire whither her beloved was gone, in order to seek him with her, So 6:1; she tells them where he was gone, and for what purpose he went thither, and what he was doing there; and claims and asserts her interest in him, So 6:2,3; Then follows a commendation of the church by Christ, who admires her beauty, and describes her by her eyes, hair So 6:4-7; and prefers her to all others; being a singular and choice one to him, and the praise of others, So 6:8-10; and next he gives an account of his going into his garden, and his design in it, and of what happened to him there, So 6:11,12. And the chapter is concluded with a charge to the Shulamite, to turn herself, that she might be looked upon; which occasions a question, to which an answer is returned, So 6:13.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew Not one is missing; each has a twin.