Return, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?
Parallel translations
- KJV 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.
- BSB Come back, come back, O Shulammite! Come back, come back, that we may gaze upon you. Why do you look at the Shulammite, as on the dance of Mahanaim?
- NKJV Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may look upon you! The Shulamite What would you see in the Shulamite— As it were, the dance of the two camps?
- NASB ¶“Come back, come back, O Shulammite; Come back, come back, so that we may look at you!” “Why should you look at the Shulammite, As at the dance of the two armies?
- NLT Return, return to us, O maid of Shulam. Come back, come back, that we may see you again. Why do you stare at this young woman of Shulam, as she moves so gracefully between two lines of dancers?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Others call the Shulammite to return so they may gaze on her, and the question is raised why they would stare. Her beauty draws admiring attention.
Overview
Here the bride is named 'the Shulammite,' likely linking her to Solomon or to her home village. The onlookers long to behold her in the dance, while a voice gently questions such gazing. The verse highlights the bride's loveliness and the desire of others to admire her, even as the love poem keeps her beauty ultimately for her beloved.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Gen 32:2When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim.
- Jer 3:22Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. “Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.
- Judg 21:21and see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each man catch his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
- 2 Sam 17:24Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
- Song 2:14My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
- Song 1:6Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard.
- Isa 8:6“Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;
- Hos 14:1–4Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen because of your sin.
- Luke 7:44Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.
- Luke 15:10Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”
- Gal 5:17For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
- Eph 6:10–19Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.
- Eph 2:14–17For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,
- 2 Th 1:10when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day.
- Heb 7:2to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, “king of righteousness”, and then also “king of Salem”, which means “king of peace”;
- Gen 49:10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.
- Ps 76:2His tabernacle is also in Salem; His dwelling place in Zion.
- John 9:7and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
- John 10:16I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.
- Rom 7:23but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
- Jer 3:12–14Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever.
- Rom 3:29Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t he the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The poetry of covenant love between bride and bridegroom pictures, at its highest, the love of Christ for his church — the Bridegroom who gave himself for his bride.
How Song of Songs 6:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.