Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Codex Leningradensis (1008).^{[5][lower-alpha 1]} Some fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls: 4Q106 (4QCant^a); 30 BCE-30 CE; extant verses 11(?)-12).^[7][8][9]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).^[10]

Verse 1

Where has your beloved gone,

O fairest among women?

Where has your beloved turned aside,

that we may seek him with you?^[11]

The words in this verse parallel those in Song 5:9.^[12]

Verse 2

My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.^[13]

This could be related to Ecclesiastes 2:5, 6 where Solomon says, "I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit; I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared."^[14] Franz Delitzsch suggests that she locates him in the garden because this is where he is inclined to spend his time, "where he delights most to tarry".^[15]

Verse 3

A text from Song 6:3 in Dutch (English: "Feedeth among the lilies"), on a house in Leiden, the Netherlands.

I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.^[16]

In reversed order compared to Song 2:16.^[17] He feeds his flock among the lilies: reference to the flock is added in the New King James Version and other texts.^[18]

Verse 4

You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,

comely as Jerusalem,

awesome as an army with banners!^[21]

• Tirzah: the capital of the Kingdom of Northern Israel in the late 10th and early 9th BCE; likely identified with Tell el-Farah North.^[22]
• "My love" (or "my [female] friend"; Hebrew: רעיתי, ra‘-yā-ṯî^[23]) a specific term of endearment used by the man for the woman that is used 9 times in the book (Song 1:9, 15; 2:2,10, 13; 4:1,7; 5:2; 6:4).^[24][25] The masculine form of the same root word to call the man ("my [male] friend"; Hebrew: רעי, rê-‘î^[26])^{[lower-alpha 2]} is used in a parallel construction with "my beloved" (Hebrew: דודי, ḏōḏî^[26]) in Song 5:16.^[24]

Verse 11

French tapestry with the text of Song 6:11 in Latin (English: "I went down into the garden of nuts"). Palais du Tau, Reims, Hauteville, Aisne (17th century).

I 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.^[29]

• "Nuts" (Hebrew: אֱגוֹז, ’ĕ-ḡōz^[30]): only found here in Hebrew Bible, but more in the Talmud; may specifically refer to the walnut tree (Juglans regia).^[28]

Verse 12

Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.^[31]

• "Amminadib": or "my noble people".^[32] The Septuagint and Vulgate, as in the King James Bible refer this last part of the verse to an individual named Amminadib (or variant spelling "Aminadab").^[33] K. Froehlich notes that "Amminadab's chariot" was interpreted as a four-horse chariot or quadriga during the Middle Ages, and considered 'a cipher for the fourfold meaning and interpretation of Scripture'.^[34]

Verse 13

[Friends of the Woman]

Return, return, O Shulammite!

Return, return, that we may look upon you.

[The Man]

Why should you look upon the Shulammite,

as upon a dance before two armies?^[35]

• "Shulammite": The name for the bride which only occurs here in the whole book, but 'it cannot be a proper name, otherwise even in the vocative there would be no article, as there is here', so it can be interpreted as 'maiden of Shulam' (cf. the Shunammite, 1 Kings 1:3).^[12] It could be how the courtiers call her, not knowing her true name, so they use 'the name of the village near which they were when they saw her'.^[12]
• "A dance before two armies" (KJV: "the company of two armies"): or "dance of Mahanaim".^[36]