Song of Solomon 4–6

CHAPTER 4

Solomon Praises the Beauty of His Bride

¹“¹Behold, you are beautiful, ^amy darling,

Behold, you are beautiful!

Your ^beyes are like doves ^cbehind your veil;

Your ^dhair is like a flock of goats

That have leapt down from Mount ^eGilead.

²“Your ^ateeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes

Which have come up from their washing,

All of which bear twins,

And not one among them has ¹lost her young.

³“Your lips are like a ^ascarlet thread,

And your ^bmouth is lovely.

Your ^ctemples are like a slice of a pomegranate

Behind your veil.

⁴“Your ^aneck is like the tower of David,

Built ¹with rows of stones

On which are ^bhung one thousand shields,

All the small ^cshields of the mighty men.

⁵“Your ^atwo breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle

Which ^1bfeed among the lilies.

⁶“^aUntil the day breathes

And the shadows flee,

I will go my way to the mountain of ^bmyrrh

And to the hill of ^cfrankincense.

⁷“^aYou are altogether beautiful, my darling,

And there is no blemish in you.

⁸“Come with me from ^aLebanon, my ^bbride,

May you come with me from Lebanon.

¹Journey down from the top of ^cAmana,

From the top of ^dSenir and Hermon,

From the dens of lions,

From the mountains of leopards.

⁹“You have made my heart beat faster, ^amy sister, my bride;

You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes,

With a single strand of your ^bnecklace.

¹⁰“^aHow beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!

How much ^bbetter is your love than wine,

And the ^cfragrance of your oils

Than all kinds of ¹spices!

¹¹“Your lips, my bride, ^adrip ^bhoney from the comb;

Honey and milk are under your tongue,

And the fragrance of your garments is like the ^cfragrance of Lebanon.

¹²“A garden locked is my sister, my bride,

A ¹rock garden locked, a ^aspring ^bsealed up.

¹³“Your shoots are ¹an ^aorchard of ^bpomegranates

With ^cchoice fruits, ^dhenna with nard plants,

^14aNard and saffron, calamus and ^bcinnamon,

With all the trees of ^cfrankincense,

^dMyrrh and aloes, along with all the finest ¹spices.

¹⁵“You are a garden spring,

A well of ^1afresh water,

And streams flowing from Lebanon.”

¹⁶“¹Awake, O north wind,

And come, wind of the south;

Make my ^agarden breathe out fragrance,

Let its ²spices flow forth.

May ^bmy beloved come into his garden

And eat its ^cchoice fruits!”

CHAPTER 5

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

¹“¹I have ^acome into my garden, ^bmy sister, my bride;

I have picked my ^cmyrrh along with my balsam.

I have eaten my honeycomb with my ^dhoney;

I have ^edrunk my wine with my milk.

Eat, ^ffriends;

Drink and ²imbibe deeply, O lovers.”

²“¹I was asleep, but my heart was awake.

A voice! My beloved was knocking:

‘Open to me, ^amy sister, my darling,

^bMy dove, my perfect one!

For my head is full of dew,

My ^clocks with the ²damp of the night.’

³“I have ^ataken off my long-sleeved garment,

How can I put it on again?

I have ^bwashed my feet,

How can I dirty them again?

⁴“My beloved sent forth his hand through the opening,

And my ^1afeelings moaned for him.

⁵“I arose to open to my beloved;

And my hands ^adripped with myrrh,

And my fingers with ¹liquid myrrh,

On the handles of the lock.

⁶“I opened to my beloved,

But my beloved had ^aturned away and passed by!

My soul went out to him as he ^bspoke.

I ^csearched for him, but I did not find him;

I ^dcalled him, but he did not answer me.

⁷“The ^awatchmen who go about in the city found me,

They struck me and wounded me;

The guardsmen of the walls took away my shawl from me.

⁸“I ^acall you to solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,

If you find my beloved,

What will you tell him?

Tell him that ^bI am sick with love.”

⁹“¹What is your beloved that he is more than any other beloved,

O ^amost beautiful among women?

What is your beloved that he is more than any other beloved,

That thus you call us to solemnly swear?”

The Bride Extols Her Beloved

¹⁰“¹My beloved is dazzling and ^aruddy,

^bLifted up as a banner among ten thousand.

¹¹“His head is like gold, fine gold;

His ^alocks are like clusters of dates

And black as a raven.

¹²“His ^aeyes are like doves

Beside streams of water,

Washed in milk,

And sitting in their ^bsetting.

¹³“His cheeks are like a ^abed of spices,

Towers of sweet-scented herbs;

His lips are ^blilies

^cDripping with liquid myrrh.

¹⁴“His hands are rods of gold

Set with ^aberyl;

His abdomen is a plate of ivory

Inlaid with ^1bsapphires.

¹⁵“His legs are pillars of marble

Set on bases of fine gold;

His appearance is like ^aLebanon

Choice as the ^bcedars.

¹⁶“His ^1amouth is full of sweetness.

And he is wholly ^bdesirable.

This is my beloved and this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.”

CHAPTER 6

Solomon and His Bride Extol Each Other

¹“^1aWhere has your beloved gone,

O ^bmost beautiful among women?

Where has your beloved turned,

That we may seek him with you?”

²“¹My beloved has gone down to his ^agarden,

To the ^bbeds of spices,

To ^cshepherd his flock in the gardens

And gather ^dlilies.

³“^aI am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,

He who ^bshepherds his flock among the lilies.”

⁴“^1aYou are as beautiful as ^bTirzah, my darling,

As ^clovely as ^dJerusalem,

As ^emajestic as ²an army with banners.

⁵“Turn your eyes away from me,

For they have overwhelmed me;

^aYour hair is like a flock of goats

That have leapt down from Gilead.

⁶“^aYour teeth are like a flock of ewes

Which have come up from their washing,

All of which bear twins,

And not one among them has ¹lost her young.

⁷“^aYour temples are like a slice of a pomegranate

Behind your veil.

⁸“There are sixty ^aqueens and eighty concubines,

And ^1bmaidens without number;

⁹She is the only one—^amy dove, my perfect one;

She is the only one of her mother;

She is the pure one of her who bore her.

The ^bdaughters saw her and called her blessed,

The ^cqueens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,

¹⁰‘Who is this that looks down like the dawn,

As beautiful as the full ^amoon,

As pure ^bas the sun,

As ^cmajestic as ¹an army with banners?’

¹¹“¹I went down to the garden of nut trees

To see the blossoms of the valley,

To see whether ^athe vine had flourished

Or the ^bpomegranates had bloomed.

¹²“I did not know it, but my soul set me

Among the chariots of ¹my noble people.”

¹³“¹²Come back, come back, O Shulammite;

Come back, come back, that we may behold you!”

“³Why should you behold the Shulammite,

As at the ^adance of ^4bthe two companies?