Song of Solomon 6
About Song of SolomonWritten by AI
The Song of Solomon, also called the Song of Songs, is a collection of love poetry. A woman and a man, often called the bride and the bridegroom, delight in each other, long for each other, and speak their love openly, with friends and the daughters of Jerusalem joining in. Its title links it to Solomon, around 950 BC. Whether he wrote it, or it was written about him or dedicated to him, is debated.
There is no clear plot. The poems move between longing and finding, separation and reunion, in rich images of gardens, vineyards, spices and springtime. Speakers change without warning, so it helps to watch who is talking.
Christians have read the Song in two main ways: as a celebration of love and desire within marriage, a good gift from God, and as a picture of God's love for His people, or Christ's love for the church. Many hold both together. Watch for the repeated refrain urging patience, and for the climax: “love is as strong as death.”
Before you read Song of Solomon 6Written by AI
The friends ask where her beloved has gone, and she answers that he is in his garden, and that they belong to each other. He praises her again: to him she is one of a kind, as awe inspiring as an army with banners. At the end the friends call to her by a name used only here, the Shulammite.
Together in the GardenThe Friends
Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Which way has he turned?
We will seek him with you.
The Bride
My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me;
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
The Bridegroom
You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,
as lovely as Jerusalem,
as majestic as troops with banners.
Turn your eyes away from me,
for they have overcome me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
coming up from the washing;
each has its twin,
and not one of them is lost.
Your brow behind your veil
is like a slice of pomegranate.
There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
and maidens without number,
but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
the favorite of the mother who bore her.
The maidens see her and call her blessed;
the queens and concubines sing her praises.
The Friends
Who is this who shines like the dawn,
as fair as the moon,
as bright as the sun,
as majestic as the stars in procession?
The Bridegroom
I went down to the walnut grove
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines were budding
or the pomegranates were in bloom.
Before I realized it, my desire had set me
among the royal chariots of my people.
The Friends
The Bridegroom
Come back, come back, O Shulammite!
Come back, come back, that we may gaze upon you.
Why do you look at the Shulammite,
as on the dance of Mahanaim?