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Companions:

If you do not know,
    O fairest among women,
follow the tracks of the flocks
    and pasture your young goats
    close to the tents of the shepherds.

To Sit in His Shadow Is My Delight[a]

Bridegroom:

I compare you, my beloved,
    to a mare[b] harnessed to Pharaoh’s chariot.
10 Your cheeks are beautiful with pendants
    and your neck with its jeweled necklaces.

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Footnotes

  1. Song of Songs 1:9 The bridegroom has heard the call of his beloved and soon appears. They have a feast, each one singing the charms and the presence of the other as well as evoking the plants and flowers of Israel. The lovers withdraw to a corner brimming with greenery. The beloved falls into the arms of her lover and rests in the dream of love fulfilled.
    In somewhat the same way, God responds to his people’s call. If Israel returns to him with love, she will remain his beloved among the nations. The Lord, her King, will be for her joy and favor. The last Book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation, foresees the day when believers will be filled with the refound joy of God.
  2. Song of Songs 1:9 Mare: allusion to the splendid mounts of the Pharaoh. The comparison was a classic one in the East.