1  Hear a just cause, O Lord; ^gattend to my cry!

Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

2  From your presence ^hlet my vindication come!

Let your eyes behold the right!

3  You have ⁱtried my heart, you have ^jvisited me by ^knight,

you have ^ltested me, and you will find nothing;

I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.

4  With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips

I have avoided the ways of the violent.

5  My steps have ^mheld fast to your paths;

my feet have not slipped.

6  I ⁿcall upon you, for you will answer me, O God;

^oincline your ear to me; hear my words.

7  ^pWondrously show¹ your steadfast love,

O Savior of those who seek refuge

from ^qtheir adversaries at your right hand.

8  Keep me as ^rthe apple of your eye;

hide me in ^sthe shadow of your wings,

9  from the wicked who do me violence,

my deadly enemies who ^tsurround me.

10  ^uThey close their hearts to pity;

with their mouths they ^vspeak arrogantly.

11  They have now surrounded our ^wsteps;

they set their eyes to ^xcast us to the ground.

12  He is like a lion eager to tear,

as a young lion ^ylurking in ambush.

13  Arise, O Lord! Confront him, subdue him!

Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,

14  from men by your hand, O Lord,

from ^zmen of the world whose ^aportion is in this life.²

You fill their womb with treasure;³

they are satisfied with ^bchildren,

and they leave their abundance to their infants.

15  As for me, I shall ^cbehold your face in righteousness;

when I ^dawake, I shall be ^esatisfied with your likeness.

1  Where has your beloved gone,

O ^cmost beautiful among women?

Where has your beloved turned,

that we may seek him with you?

2  My beloved has gone down to his ^qgarden

to ^rthe beds of spices,

to ^sgraze¹ in the gardens

and to gather ^tlilies.

3  ^uI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;

he grazes among the lilies.

4  You are beautiful as ^vTirzah, ^wmy love,

^xlovely as ^yJerusalem,

^zawesome as an army with banners.

5  Turn away your eyes from me,

for they overwhelm me—

^aYour hair is like a flock of goats

leaping down the slopes of Gilead.

6  ^bYour 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.

7  ^cYour cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.

8  There are ^dsixty ^equeens and eighty ^econcubines,

and ^fvirgins without number.

9  My ^gdove, my ^hperfect one, is the only one,

the only one of her mother,

pure to ⁱher who bore her.

^jThe young women saw her and called her blessed;

^ethe queens and ^econcubines also, and they praised her.

10  ^k“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,

beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,

^lawesome as an army with banners?”

11  I went down to the nut orchard

to look at ^mthe blossoms of the valley,

ⁿto see whether the vines had budded,

whether the pomegranates were in bloom.

12  ^oBefore I was aware, my desire set me

among ^pthe chariots of my kinsman, a prince.²

13  ³ Return, return, O ^qShulammite,

return, return, that we may look upon you.

Why should you look upon ^qthe Shulammite,

as upon ^ra dance before ^stwo armies?⁴