Song of Solomon 4–7

The Young Woman’s Beauty Extolled

⁴How beautiful you are, my love,

how very beautiful!

Your eyes are doves

behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats,

moving down the slopes of Gilead.^*

²Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes

that have come up from the washing,

all of which bear twins,

and not one among them is bereaved.^*

³Your lips are like a crimson thread,

and your mouth is lovely.

Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.^*

⁴Your neck is like the tower of David,

built in courses;

on it hang a thousand bucklers,

all of them shields of 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 hasten to the mountain of myrrh

and the hill of frankincense.^*

⁷You are altogether beautiful, my love;

there is no flaw in you.^*

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;

come with me from Lebanon.

Depart^g from the peak of Amana,

from the peak of Senir and Hermon,

from the dens of lions,

from the mountains of leopards.^*

⁹You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;

you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes,

with one jewel of your necklace.^*

¹⁰How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride!

How much better is your love than wine

and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!^*

¹¹Your lips distill nectar, my bride;

honey and milk are under your tongue;

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

¹²A garden locked is my sister, my bride,

a garden^h locked, a fountain sealed.^*

¹³Your channelⁱ is an orchard of pomegranates

with all choicest fruits,

henna with nard,^*

¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,

with all trees of frankincense,

myrrh and aloes,

with all chief spices—^*

¹⁵a garden fountain, a well of living water,

and flowing streams from Lebanon.^*

¹⁶Awake, O north wind,

and come, O south wind!

Blow upon my garden

that its fragrance may be wafted abroad.

Let my beloved come to his garden

that he may eat its choicest fruits.^*

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

I gather my myrrh with my spice;

I eat my honeycomb with my honey;

I drink my wine with my milk.

Eat, friends, drink,

and be drunk with love.^*

Another Dream

²I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.

The sound of my beloved knocking!

“Open to me, my sister, my love,

my dove, my perfect one,

for my head is wet with dew,

my locks with the drops of the night.”^*

³I had put off my garment;

how could I put it on again?

I had bathed my feet;

how could I soil them?^*

⁴My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,

and my inmost being yearned for him.

⁵I arose to open to my beloved,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh,

upon the handles of the bolt.^*

⁶I opened to my beloved,

but my beloved had turned away and was gone.

My soul failed me when he spoke.

I sought him but did not find him;

I called him, but he gave no answer.^*

⁷Making their rounds in the city

the sentinels found me;

they beat me; they wounded me;

they took away my mantle,

those sentinels of the walls.^*

⁸I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

if you find my beloved,

tell him this:

I am faint with love.^*

Colloquy of Friends and the Young Woman

⁹What is your beloved more than another beloved,

O fairest among women?

What is your beloved more than another beloved,

that you thus charge us?^*

¹⁰My beloved is all radiant and ruddy,

distinguished among ten thousand.

¹¹His head is the finest gold;

his locks are wavy,

black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves

beside springs of water,

bathed in milk,

fitly set.^j*

¹³His cheeks are like beds of spices,

yielding fragrance.

His lips are lilies,

dripping liquid myrrh.^*

¹⁴His arms are rounded gold,

set with jewels.

His body is an ivory panel,^k

decorated with sapphires.

¹⁵His legs are alabaster columns,

set upon bases of gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon,

choice as the cedars.

¹⁶His speech is most sweet,

and he is altogether desirable.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.^*

⁶Where has your beloved gone,

O fairest among women?

Which way has your beloved turned

that we may seek him with you?^*

²My beloved has gone down to his garden,

to the beds of spices,

to pasture his flock in the gardens

and to gather lilies.^*

³I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine;

he pastures his flock among the lilies.^*

The Young Woman’s Matchless Beauty

⁴You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,

comely as Jerusalem,

terrible as an army with banners.^*

⁵Turn away your eyes from me,

for they overwhelm me!

Your hair is like a flock of goats,

moving down the slopes of Gilead.^*

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

that have come up from the washing;

all of them bear twins,

and not one among them is bereaved.^*

⁷Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.^*

⁸There are sixty queens and eighty concubines

and maidens without number.^*

⁹My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,

the darling of her mother,

flawless to her who bore her.

The maidens saw her and called her happy;

the queens and concubines praised her.^*

¹⁰“Who is this that looks forth like the dawn,

fair as the moon, bright as the sun,

terrible as an army with banners?”^*

¹¹I went down to the nut orchard

to look at the blossoms of the valley,

to see whether the vines had budded,

whether the pomegranates were in bloom.^*

¹²Before I was aware, my desire set me

in a chariot beside my prince.^l

^13mReturn, return, O Shulammite!

Return, return, that we may look upon you.

Why should you look upon the Shulammite,

as upon a dance before two armies?^n*

Expressions of Praise

⁷How graceful are your feet in sandals,

O queenly maiden!

Your rounded thighs are like jewels,

the work of a master hand.^*

²Your navel is a rounded bowl;

may it never lack mixed wine.

Your belly is a heap of wheat,

encircled with lilies.

³Your two breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle.^*

⁴Your neck is like an ivory tower.

Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,

by the gate of Bath-rabbim.

Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,

overlooking Damascus.^*

⁵Your head crowns you like Carmel,

and your flowing locks are like purple;

a king is held captive in the tresses.^*

⁶How fair and pleasant you are,

O loved one, delectable maiden!^o*

⁷You are stately^p as a palm tree,

and your breasts are like its clusters.

⁸I said, “I will climb the palm tree

and lay hold of its branches.”

O may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,

and the scent of your breath like apples,^*

⁹and your kisses^q like the best wine

that goes down^r smoothly,

gliding over lips and teeth.^s

¹⁰I am my beloved’s,

and his desire is for me.^*

¹¹Come, my beloved,

let us go forth into the fields

and lodge in the villages;

¹²let us go out early to the vineyards;

let us see whether the vines have budded,

whether the grape blossoms have opened

and the pomegranates are in bloom.

There I will give you my love.^*

¹³The mandrakes give forth fragrance,

and over our doors are all choice fruits,

new as well as old,

which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.^*