Song of Songs 6:4-13

He

4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.

5 Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from 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.

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

8 Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond 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.

Friends

10 Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?

He

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.

12 Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.^[a]

Friends

13 Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!

He

13 Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim?^[b]

Song of Songs 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.

Cross References

• 1. S Joshua 12:24; S 1 Kings 15:33
• 2. Psalms 48:2; Psalms 50:2
• 3. ver 10; S Numbers 1:52
• 4. S Song of Songs 4:1
• 5. Song of Songs 4:2
• 6. S Genesis 24:65
• 7. Song of Songs 4:3
• 8. Psalms 45:9
• 9. S Genesis 22:24; S Esther 2:14
• 10. S Song of Songs 1:15
• 11. Song of Songs 5:2
• 12. S Song of Songs 3:4
• 13. Song of Songs 7:12
• 14. S Exodus 15:20

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "among the chariots of Amminadab" ; or "among the chariots of the people of the prince"
• [b]. In Hebrew texts this verse (6:13) is numbered 7:1.