| English Standard Version | New International Version |
| 1Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? | 1Where has your beloved gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your beloved turn, that we may look for him with you? |
| 2My beloved has gone down to his garden to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies. | 2My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. |
| 3I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies. | 3I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies. |
| 4You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners. | 4You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners. |
| 5Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me— Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. | 5Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead. |
| 6Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing; all of them bear twins; not one among them has lost its young. | 6Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is missing. |
| 7Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. | 7Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate. |
| 8There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number. | 8Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number; |
| 9My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her. | 9but 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. |
| 10“Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?” | 10Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession? |
| 11I went down to the nut orchard to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom. | 11I 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. |
| 12Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince. | 12Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people. |
| 13Return, return, O Shulammite, return, return, that we may look upon you. He Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies? | 13Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you! He Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim? |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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