Song of Solomon 6:4-13

4 You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.

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.

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.

7 Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number.

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.

10 "Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?"

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.

12 Before I was aware, my fancy set me in a chariot beside my prince.

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?

Song of Solomon 6:4-13 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]. Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
• [b]. Ch 7.1 in Heb
• [c]. Or [dance of Mahanaim]