Song of Songs 6

KJV · Chapter 6/8

1Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

2My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

3I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.

4Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.

5Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.

6Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.

7As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.

8There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

9My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

10Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

11I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.

12Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.

13Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The daughters of Jerusalem ask where the lover has gone, and the beloved answers that he has gone down to his garden. The lover then returns to praising her unique beauty, comparing her to countless queens and concubines, yet saying that she alone is perfect.

Explanation

The beloved's answer shows that she knows exactly where to find the one she loves — a reaffirmation of the security and trust that exists in the relationship after the search in the previous chapter. The comparison to "sixty queens and eighty concubines" may reflect hyperbole drawn from Solomon's court (1 Kings 11 mentions seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines), used here poetically to emphasize that, among them all, the beloved is unmatched and unique. Application for today: amid all the comparisons the world offers, true love chooses and treasures one person as unique and irreplaceable.

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