Song of Solomon 4:1–6:1

The Groom’s Praise of His Bride

4Look! You are beautiful, my beloved!

Look! You are beautiful!

Your eyes are doves

from behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

that move down from the mountains of Gilead.

²Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes

that came up from the washing,

all of them bearing twins,

and there is none bereaved among them.

³Your lips are like a thread of crimson,

and your mouth is lovely.

Your temple is like halves of pomegranate

from behind your veil.

⁴Your neck is like the tower of David,

built in courses;

a thousand ornaments^a are hung on it,

all the shields of the warriors.

⁵Your two breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle that feed among the lilies.

⁶Until the day breathes and the shadows flee,

I will go to the mountain of the myrrh,

to the hill of the frankincense.

⁷You are completely beautiful, my beloved!

You are flawless!^b

The Mountains and Fragrance of Lebanon

⁸Come^c with me from Lebanon, my bride!

Come with me^d from Lebanon!

Look from the top of Amana,

from the top of Senir and Hermon,

from the dwelling places of the lions,

from the mountains of leopard.

⁹You have stolen (my) heart, my sister bride!

You have stolen my heart with one glance from your eyes,

with one ornament from your necklaces.

¹⁰How beautiful is your love, my sister bride!

How better is your love than wine,

and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!

¹¹Your lips drip nectar, my bride;

honey and milk are under your lips;

the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.

The Locked Garden of Delights Is Unlocked

¹²A garden locked is my sister bride,

a spring enclosed,^e a fountain sealed.

¹³Your shoots^f are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruit,^g

henna with nard;

¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon spice with all trees of frankincense,

myrrh and aloes with all chief spices.

¹⁵A garden fountain, a well of living water,

flowing (streams) from Lebanon.

¹⁶Awake, O north wind! Come, O south wind!

Blow upon my garden! Let its fragrances^h waft forth!ⁱ

Let my beloved come to his garden,

let him eat his choice fruit!

5I have come to my garden, my sister bride,

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 and become drunk with love!^a

The Maiden’s Dream: Seeking and Not Finding

²I was asleep but^b my heart was awake.

A sound! My beloved knocking!^c

“Open to me, my sister, my beloved,

my dove, my perfect one!

For my head is full of dew,

my hair drenched from the moist night air.”^d

³I have taken off my tunic, must I put it on?^e

I have bathed my feet, must I soil them?^f

⁴My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,

and my inmost yearned for him.

⁵I myself arose to open to my beloved;

my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh

upon the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened myself to my beloved,

but my beloved had turned and gone;^g

my heart sank^h when he turned away.ⁱ

I sought him, but I did not find him;

I called him, but he did not answer me.

⁷The sentinels making rounds in the city found me;

they beat me, they wounded me;

they took my cloak^j away from me—

those sentinels on the walls!^k

Adjuration Refrain

⁸I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,^l

if you find my beloved, what will you tell him?

Tell him that I am lovesick!^m

The Maiden’s Praise of Her Beloved

⁹How is your beloved better than another lover,ⁿ

O most beautiful among women?

How is your beloved better than another lover, ^o

that you adjure us thus?

¹⁰My beloved is radiant and ruddy,^p

distinguished among^q ten thousand.

¹¹His head is gold, refined gold;

his locks are wavy, black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves beside springs^r of water,

bathed in milk, set like mounted jewels.^st

¹³His cheeks are like beds of spice, a tower of fragrances;

his lips are lilies dripping liquid myrrh.

¹⁴His arms are rods^uv of gold engraved with^w jewels;

his belly^x is polished ivory covered with sapphires.^y

¹⁵His legs are columns of alabaster,^z set on bases of gold;

his appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.^a

¹⁶His mouth^b is sweet,

and he is altogether desirable.

This is my beloved;

this is my friend, O young women of Jerusalem.^c

6Where has your beloved gone,

O most beautiful among women?

Where has your beloved turned

that we may seek him with you?