Song of Solomon 4–6

The Man Speaks to the Woman

4How beautiful you are, my darling!

Oh, you are beautiful!

Your eyes behind your veil are like doves.

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

²Your teeth are white like newly sheared sheep

just coming from their bath.

Each one has a twin,

and none of them is missing.

³Your lips are like red silk thread,

and your mouth is lovely.

Your cheeks behind your veil

are like slices of a pomegranate.

⁴Your neck is like David’s tower,

built with rows of stones.

A thousand shields hang on its walls;

each shield belongs to a strong soldier.

⁵Your breasts are like two fawns,

like twins of a gazelle,

feeding among the lilies.

⁶Until the day dawns

and the shadows disappear,

I will go to that mountain of myrrh

and to that hill of incense.

⁷My darling, everything about you is beautiful,

and there is nothing at all wrong with you.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.

Come with me from Lebanon,

from the top of Mount Amana,

from the tops of Mount Senir and Mount Hermon.

Come from the lions’ dens

and from the leopards’ hills.

⁹My sister, my bride,

you have thrilled my heart;

you have thrilled my heart

with a glance of your eyes,

with one sparkle from your necklace.

¹⁰Your love is so sweet, my sister, my bride.

Your love is better than wine,

and your perfume smells better than any spice.

¹¹My bride, your lips drip honey;

honey and milk are under your tongue.

Your clothes smell like the cedars of Lebanon.

¹²My sister, my bride, you are like a garden locked up,

like a walled-in spring, a closed-up fountain.

¹³Your limbs are like an orchard

of pomegranates with all the best fruit,

filled with flowers and nard,

¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus, and cinnamon,

with trees of incense, myrrh, and aloes—

all the best spices.

¹⁵You are like a garden fountain—

a well of fresh water

flowing down from the mountains of Lebanon.

The Woman Speaks

¹⁶Awake, north wind.

Come, south wind.

Blow on my garden,

and let its sweet smells flow out.

Let my lover enter the garden

and eat its best fruits.

The Man Speaks

5I have entered my garden, my sister, my bride.

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.

I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey.

I have drunk my wine and my milk.

The Friends Speak

Eat, friends, and drink;

yes, drink deeply, lovers.

The Woman Dreams

²I sleep, but my heart is awake.

I hear my lover knocking.

“Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove, my perfect one.

My head is wet with dew,

and my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³I have taken off my garment

and don’t want to put it on again.

I have washed my feet

and don’t want to get them dirty again.

⁴My lover put his hand through the opening,

and I felt excited inside.

⁵I got up to open the door for my lover.

Myrrh was dripping from my hands

and flowing from my fingers,

onto the handles of the lock.

⁶I opened the door for my lover,

but my lover had left and was gone.

When he spoke, he took my breath away.

I looked for him, but I could not find him;

I called for him, but he did not answer.

⁷The watchmen found me

as they patrolled the city.

They hit me and hurt me;

the guards on the wall took away my veil.

⁸Promise me, women of Jerusalem,

if you find my lover,

tell him I am weak with love.

The Friends Answer the Woman

⁹How is your lover better than other lovers,

most beautiful of women?

How is your lover better than other lovers?

Why do you want us to promise this?

The Woman Answers the Friends

¹⁰My lover is healthy and tan,

the best of ten thousand men.

¹¹His head is like the finest gold;

his hair is wavy and black like a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves

by springs of water.

They seem to be bathed in cream

and are set like jewels.

¹³His cheeks are like beds of spices;

they smell like mounds of perfume.

His lips are like lilies

flowing with myrrh.

¹⁴His hands are like gold hinges,

filled with jewels.

His body is like shiny ivory

covered with sapphires.

¹⁵His legs are like large marble posts,

standing on bases of fine gold.

He is like a cedar of Lebanon,

like the finest of the trees.

¹⁶His mouth is sweet to kiss,

and I desire him very much.

Yes, daughters of Jerusalem,

this is my lover

and my friend.

The Friends Speak to the Woman

6Where has your lover gone,

most beautiful of women?

Which way did your lover turn?

We will look for him with you.

The Woman Answers the Friends

²My lover has gone down to his garden,

to the beds of spices,

to feed in the gardens

and to gather lilies.

³I belong to my lover,

and my lover belongs to me.

He feeds among the lilies.

The Man Speaks to the Woman

⁴My darling, you are as beautiful as the city of Tirzah,

as lovely as the city of Jerusalem,

like an army flying flags.

⁵Turn your eyes from me,

because they excite me too much.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down Mount Gilead.

⁶Your teeth are white like sheep

just coming from their bath;

each one has a twin,

and none of them is missing.

⁷Your cheeks behind your veil

are like slices of a pomegranate.

⁸There may be sixty queens and eighty slave women

and so many girls you cannot count them,

⁹but there is only one like my dove, my perfect one.

She is her mother’s only daughter,

the brightest of the one who gave her birth.

The young women saw her and called her happy;

the queens and the slave women also praised her.

The Young Women Praise the Woman

¹⁰Who is that young woman

that shines out like the dawn?

She is as pretty as the moon,

as bright as the sun,

as wonderful as an army flying flags.

The Man Speaks

¹¹I went down into the orchard of nut trees

to see the blossoms of the valley,

to look for buds on the vines,

to see if the pomegranate trees had bloomed.

¹²Before I realized it, my desire for you made me feel

like a prince in a chariot.

The Friends Call to the Woman

¹³Come back, come back, woman of Shulam.

Come back, come back,

so we may look at you!

The Woman Answers the Friends

Why do you want to look at the woman of Shulam

as you would at the dance of two armies?