Song of Solomon 4:1–6:1

¹Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are doves behind thy veil; Thy hair is as a flock of goats, On the slopes of mount Gilead. ²Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, Which go up from the washing; Which have all borne twins, And none is barren among them. ³Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, And thy speech is comely; As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples Behind thy veil. ⁴Thy neck is like the tower of David, Built for an armoury: A thousand bucklers hang thereon, All shields of mighty men. ⁵Thy two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, Which feed among the lilies. ⁶Until the day dawn, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, And to the hill of frankincense. ⁷Thou art all fair, my love; And there is no spot in thee.

⁸Come with me, from Lebanon, my spouse, With me from Lebanon, —Come, look from the top of Amanah, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions’ dens, From the mountains of the leopards. ⁹Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck. ¹⁰How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! And the fragrance of thine ointments than all spices! ¹¹Thy lips, my spouse, drop as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under thy tongue; And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. ¹²A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. ¹³Thy shoots are a paradise of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants; ¹⁴Spikenard and saffron; Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

¹⁵A fountain in the gardens, A well of living waters, Which stream from Lebanon. ¹⁶Awake, north wind, and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow forth. Let my beloved come into his garden, And eat its precious fruits.

Chapter 5

¹I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, beloved ones!

²I slept, but my heart was awake. The voice of my beloved! he knocketh: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, mine undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night. ³—I have put off my tunic, how should I put it on? I have washed my feet, how should I pollute them? — ⁴My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door; And my bowels yearned for him. ⁵I rose up to open to my beloved; And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, Upon the handles of the lock. ⁶I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had withdrawn himself; he was gone: My soul went forth when he spoke. I sought him, but I found him not; I called him, but he gave me no answer. ⁷The watchmen that went about the city found me; They smote me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. ⁸I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, …What will ye tell him? —That I am sick of love.

⁹What is thy beloved more than another beloved, Thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, That thou dost so charge us? ¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand. ¹¹His head is as the finest gold; His locks are flowing, black as the raven; ¹²His eyes are like doves by the water-brooks, Washed with milk, fitly set; ¹³His cheeks are as a bed of spices, raised beds of sweet plants; His lips lilies, dropping liquid myrrh. ¹⁴His hands gold rings, set with the chrysolite; His belly is bright ivory, overlaid with sapphires; ¹⁵His legs, pillars of marble, set upon bases of fine gold: His bearing as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars; ¹⁶His mouth is most sweet: Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, yea, this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Chapter 6

¹Whither is thy beloved gone, Thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? And we will seek him with thee.