1 Where has your beloved gone, O beautiful among women {banashim: among all women}? Where has your beloved turned aside? We will seek him {nebakshenu: search diligently} with you.
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spice {bosem: aromatic spice}, to pasture in the gardens, and to gather lilies {shoshanim: graceful blossoms}.
3 I am my beloved’s {dodi: intimate companion}, and my beloved is mine; He pastures {ro’eh: cares tenderly} among the lilies.
4 You are beautiful, my companion{ra’yati: cherished partner}, as Tirzah; lovely as Jerusalem; awesome as banners{kanidgalot: military insignia}.
5 Turn away your gaze from me, for they have overpowered me. Your hair {searekh: flowing tresses} is like a flock of goats that descends {shegalsu: smooth gliding} from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock {ke-ʿeder: flock imagery} of ewes that have come up from the washing, each of them is paired, and there is not a bereaved one {shekulah: one without mate} among them.
7 Your temples are like a segment {pelach: divided part} of a pomegranate from behind your veil {tzammah: braided locks}.
8 Sixty queens {melakhot: royal consorts} and eighty concubines, and maidens {alamot: young unmarried women} without number.
9 One is my dove {yonati: term of endearment}, my flawless one; she is the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her. The daughters saw her and blessed {vayaashruha: declare happy} her; queens and concubines praised her.
10 Who is this that appears like the dawn, beautiful as the moon {levanah: Radiant Night Light}, clear as the sun, awe-inspiring as bannered hosts {nidgalot: Arranged Armies}?
11 I went down to the garden {ginnat: orchard} of nuts to see the shoots {beivei: young shoots} of the valley, to see whether the vine had blossomed and whether the pomegranates had budded.
12 I did not know; my soul {nafshi: inner self} set me among the chariots of my noble people {ammi-nadiv: princely company}.
13 Return, return, O Shulamite {hashulamit: woman of Shulem}; return, return, that we may gaze upon you. What do you see in the Shulamite? Like the dance {kimecholath: circular procession} of the two camps.