Song of Songs 6:4-13

Man

4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah,^[a] my darling, lovely as Jerusalem, awe-inspiring as an army with banners.^[b]

5 Turn your eyes away from me, for they captivate me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.^[c]

6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes coming up from washing, each one having a twin, and not one missing.^[d][e]

7 Behind your veil,^[f] your brow^[g] is like a slice of pomegranate.

8 There are 60 queens and 80 concubines and young women^[h] 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:

Young Women of Jerusalem

10 Who is this^[i][j]who shines like the dawn- as beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awe-inspiring as an army with banners?^[k]

Woman

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.

12 Before I knew it, my desire put me [among] the chariots of my noble people.^[l]

Young Women of Jerusalem

13 ^[m]Come back, come back, Shulammite!^[n] 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?

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. a mountain city in Manasseh
• [b]. Sg 6:10
• [c]. Sg 4:1
• [d]. Lit and no one bereaved among them
• [e]. Sg 4:2
• [f]. Sg 4:3
• [g]. Or temple, or cheek, or lips
• [h]. Or and virgins; Sg 1:3
• [i]. The pronoun this is feminine in Hb.
• [j]. Sg 3:6; 8:5
• [k]. Sg 6:4
• [l]. Or of Amminadib, or of my people of a prince; Hb obscure
• [m]. Sg 7:1 in Hb
• [n]. Perhaps an inhabitant of the town of Shunem, or "the peaceable one," or a feminine form of Solomon's name
• [o]. Or dance of Mahanaim; Gn 32:2