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Women of Jerusalem

¹ "Where has your loved one gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your loved one turned, that we may look for him with you?"

The Woman

² "My love has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices. He has gone to feed his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies. ³ I am my love's, and my love is mine, he who feeds his flock among the lilies."

King Solomon

⁴ "You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my love, as beautiful as Jerusalem. You are to be feared as an army with flags. ⁵ Turn your eyes away from me, for they trouble me. Your hair is like a flock of goats that has come down from Gilead. ⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which has come up from the washing. All of them give birth to two lambs at a time, and not one of them has lost her young. ⁷ The sides of your forehead are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your face-covering. ⁸ There are sixty queens, and eighty women kept who act like wives, and there are too many young women to number who have never had a man. ⁹ But my dove, my perfect one, is special. She is her mother's only daughter. She is the pure child of the one who gave birth to her. The young women saw her and knew she was honored. The queens and the women who act as wives praised her, saying, ¹⁰ ‘Who is this that looks out like the first light of day? She is as beautiful as the full moon, as pure as the sun. She is to be feared as an army with flags.'"

The Woman

¹¹ "I went down to the field of nut trees to see the flowers of the valley, to see if the vines or the pomegranates had flowers. ¹² Before I knew it, I wanted to be over the war-wagons of the princes of my people."

Women of Jerusalem

¹³ "Return, return, O Shulammite! Return, return, that we may look upon you!"

The Woman

"Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance in front of two armies?"

King Solomon

⁴ "You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my love, as beautiful as Jerusalem. You are to be feared as an army with flags. ⁵ Turn your eyes away from me, for they trouble me. Your hair is like a flock of goats that has come down from Gilead. ⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which has come up from the washing. All of them give birth to two lambs at a time, and not one of them has lost her young. ⁷ The sides of your forehead are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your face-covering. ⁸ There are sixty queens, and eighty women kept who act like wives, and there are too many young women to number who have never had a man. ⁹ But my dove, my perfect one, is special. She is her mother's only daughter. She is the pure child of the one who gave birth to her. The young women saw her and knew she was honored. The queens and the women who act as wives praised her, saying, ¹⁰ ‘Who is this that looks out like the first light of day? She is as beautiful as the full moon, as pure as the sun. She is to be feared as an army with flags.'"

The Woman

¹¹ "I went down to the field of nut trees to see the flowers of the valley, to see if the vines or the pomegranates had flowers. ¹² Before I knew it, I wanted to be over the war-wagons of the princes of my people."

Women of Jerusalem

¹³ "Return, return, O Shulammite! Return, return, that we may look upon you!"

The Woman

"Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance in front of two armies?"