The big picture
City women offer to help search, and the woman names her beloved's garden. Both lovers affirm their bond before the man renews his praise. Tirzah and Jerusalem, cities admired for beauty, and Gilead, a hilly region, supply comparisons. Queens and concubines, royal partners with less standing than wives, hear that this woman is unique. Amminadib, an unexplained name, occurs in a chariot image. Voices call her Shulamite, a title of uncertain meaning. Christians differ over how the lovers' bond also speaks of God's love.
In this chapter
- The Search Turns Towards the Garden Song of Solomon 6:1-3
The listening women ask where the beloved has gone and offer to seek him with her.
- Her Gaze Overwhelms the Speaker Song of Solomon 6:4-7
The man compares her beauty with admired cities and her presence with an army bearing banners.
- One Woman Stands Apart in a Royal Crowd Song of Solomon 6:8-10
The man's praise names sixty queens, eighty concubines, and countless young women.
- A Garden Visit Ends in Calls to Return Song of Solomon 6:11-13
A voice describes going into a nut garden to inspect the valley's fruit, vines, and pomegranate buds.
Central truth
The lovers declare their shared bond again, while other voices praise the woman through images of cities, light, and garden growth.
Scripture beside the summary
Song of Solomon · King James Version · 13Song of Solomon 6:1-3
The Search Turns Towards the Garden
The listening women ask where the beloved has gone and offer to seek him with her. She answers that he has gone into his garden, among spice beds and lilies. Then she declares the bond from her own side: she belongs to him, and he belongs to her. The garden speaks of shared delight. It does not give a street address. No detailed reunion is narrated here. Her answer moves from distress to trust. She knows the bond they share, though the search has hurt.
In everyday life
Her closest friends offer to help find her husband at an outdoor sculpture exhibit. The wife remembers which bronze figure caught his eye and points down a path. She smiles as they turn towards it. Knowing his tastes calms the brief search. The poem's garden suggests intimate delight, not merely a place to find a missing visitor.
Notice
Song of Solomon 6:3 The woman begins with her own belonging before naming his. The statement answers uncertainty with a mutual bond rather than a claim of one-sided possession.
Song of Solomon 6:1-3
King James Version1Whither 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.
Song of Solomon 6:4-7
Her Gaze Overwhelms the Speaker
The man compares her beauty with admired cities and her presence with an army bearing banners. The military image conveys an overwhelming sight, not an account of her attacking him. He asks her to turn her eyes away because their force has overcome him. Praise of flowing hair, paired bright teeth, and fruit-coloured cheeks follows. Familiar images return, but the opening changes their weight: the admired woman has an effect on the speaker. He is not detached or in control of the feeling his own praise reveals.
In everyday life
A pianist watches his wife enter the rehearsal studio and forgets the greeting he planned. When she looks directly at him, he laughs at his own lost words and takes her hand. Her presence has unsettled his composure. The song expresses that effect through fortified cities, banners, and pastoral images rather than ordinary conversation.
Notice
Song of Solomon 6:5 The request to turn her eyes away admits their effect on him. The lover's praise includes his own loss of composure before the woman he admires.
Song of Solomon 6:4-7
King James Version4Thou 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.
Song of Solomon 6:8-10
One Woman Stands Apart in a Royal Crowd
The man's praise names sixty queens, eighty concubines, and countless young women. One beloved stands apart from them all. She is precious to her mother and singled out among all the others. The women see her and praise her, including those in the royal household. Voices praise her as dawn, moonlight, sunlight, and an army with banners; the speaker changes are not always clear. Light and splendour express her presence. The crowd does not lessen her worth to him. He delights in this one woman among many.
In everyday life
A florist watches a man choose his wife's favourite flower among rows of blooms. He keeps returning to the one he knows will please her. The florist wraps it while his wife waits at the far end of the stall. A wide choice has not blurred his wish to delight one person. The poem uses an ancient royal household and cosmic brightness to express that singularity.
Notice
Song of Solomon 6:9 Other women, including those of high standing, join the praise. The beloved's singular place is voiced within a crowd rather than by pretending no others exist.
Song of Solomon 6:8-10
King James Version8There 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?
Song of Solomon 6:11-13
A Garden Visit Ends in Calls to Return
A voice describes going into a nut garden to inspect the valley's fruit, vines, and pomegranate buds. Then comes a sudden movement of feeling compared with the named chariots. The meaning and speaker here are not clear. Repeated calls ask the woman to return so others can look at her. A question answers what they expect to see, followed by the image of two companies or armies. Growth gives way to sudden feeling and a call to return. The poem does not give enough detail to turn this into a fully known event.
In everyday life
A dancer steps into the courtyard after a rehearsal and pauses over the first buds on a tree. Hearing her companions call her back, she turns towards the open doors while they wait to see the next dance. Private attention shifts into a public gaze. The song's chariot and two-company images remain less clear than this ordinary scene.
Notice
Song of Solomon 6:11 The speaker looks for signs that vines and fruit trees are budding. Growth is observed at its beginning, keeping the garden tied to expectation rather than completed harvest.
Song of Solomon 6:11-13
King James Version11I 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.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Song of Solomon 6:1 begins with “Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.”
Where the chapter turns
Song of Solomon 6:10 forms a natural hinge: “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”
The final note
Song of Solomon 6:13 leaves the reader with “Return, 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.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words beloved, return, army, banners, concubines, flock help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- concubines
- Women joined to a man in a recognised household relationship below the status of wives.
- Shulamite
- A designation for the woman in the song; its precise origin is uncertain.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
