Song of Solomon 4:1–5:16

¹Look at you! You are beautiful, my true love. 

Look at you! You are so beautiful. 

Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. 

Your hair is like a flock of goats moving down Mount Gilead. 

²Your teeth are like a flock of sheep about to be sheared, 

sheep that come up from the washing. 

All of them bear twins, and not one has lost its young. 

³Your lips are like scarlet thread. 

Your mouth is lovely. 

Your temples behind your veil are like slices of pomegranate. 

⁴Your neck is like David’s beautifully-designedtower. 

A thousand round shields belonging to soldiers 

are hung on it. 

⁵Your breasts are like two fawns, 

like twin gazelles grazing among the lilies. 

⁶When the day brings a cool breeze and the shadows flee, 

I will go to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of incense. 

⁷You are beautiful in every way, my true love. 

There is no blemish on you. 

⁸You will come with me from Lebanon, 

from Lebanon as my bride. 

You will travel with me 

from the peak of Mount Amana, 

from the mountain peaks in Senir and Hermon, 

from the lairs of lions, 

from the mountains of leopards. 

⁹My bride, my sister, you have charmed me.^b

You have charmed me 

with a single glance from your eyes, 

with a single strand of your necklace. 

¹⁰How beautiful are your expressions of love, my bride, my sister! 

How much better are your expressions of love than wine 

and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice. 

¹¹Your lips drip honey, my bride. 

Honey and milk are under your tongue. 

The fragrance of your clothing is like the fragrance of Lebanon. 

¹²My bride, my sister is a garden that is locked, 

a garden that is locked, 

a spring that is sealed. 

¹³You are paradise that produces 

pomegranates and the best fruits, 

henna flowers and nard, 

¹⁴nard and saffron, 

calamus,^ccinnamon, and all kinds of incense,^d

myrrh, aloes, and all the best spices. 

¹⁵⸤You are⸥ a spring for gardens, 

a well of living water flowing from Lebanon. 

^[BRIDE^[

¹⁶Awake, north wind! 

Come, south wind! 

Blow on my garden! 

Let its spices flow from it. 

Let my beloved come to his garden, 

and let him eat his own precious fruit. 

5TH CHAPTER

^[GROOM^[

¹My bride, my sister, I will come to my garden. 

I will gather my myrrh with my spice. 

I will eat my honeycomb with my honey. 

I will drink my wine with my milk. 

Eat, my friends! 

Drink and become intoxicated with expressions of love! 

The Young Woman Dreams of Marriage with Her Husband

^[BRIDE^[

²I sleep, but my mind is awake. 

Listen! My beloved is knocking. 

^[GROOM^[

Open to me, my true love, my sister, 

my dove, my perfect one. 

My head is wet with dew, 

my hair with the dewdrops of night. 

^[BRIDE^[

³I have taken off my clothes! Why should I put them on ⸤again⸥? 

I have washed my feet! Why should I get them dirty ⸤again⸥? 

⁴My beloved put his hand through the keyhole. 

My heart throbbed for him. 

⁵I got up to open for my beloved. 

My hands dripped with myrrh, 

and my fingers were drenched with liquid myrrh, 

on the handles of the lock. 

⁶I opened for my beloved, 

but my beloved had turned away. He was gone! 

I almost died when he left. 

I looked for him, but I did not find him. 

I called for him, but he did not answer me. 

⁷The watchmen making their rounds in the city found me. 

They struck me! 

They wounded me! 

Those watchmen on the walls took my robe from me! 

⁸Young women of Jerusalem, swear to me 

that if you find my beloved 

you will tell him I am hopelessly lovesick. 

^[THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN^[

⁹Most beautiful of women, 

what makes your beloved better than any other beloved? 

What makes your beloved better than any other beloved 

that you make us swear this way? 

^[BRIDE^[

¹⁰My beloved is dazzling yet ruddy. 

He stands out among 10,000 men. 

¹¹His head is the finest gold. 

His hair is wavy, black as a raven. 

¹²His eyes are set like doves bathing in milk. 

¹³His cheeks are like a garden of spices, 

a garden that produces scented herbs. 

His lips are lilies that drip with myrrh. 

¹⁴His hands are disks of gold set with emerald. 

His chest is a block of ivory covered with sapphires. 

¹⁵His legs are columns of marble set on bases of pure gold. 

His form is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars. 

¹⁶His mouth is sweet in every way. 

Everything about him is desirable! 

This is my beloved, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem.