Chapter 4

Solomon’s Love Expressed

1 “1, 2How beautiful ayou are, my darling,

2How beautiful you are!

Your beyes are like doves cbehind your veil;

Your dhair is like a flock of goats

That have descended 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 a thousand shields,

All the round cshields of the mighty men.

5 “Your atwo breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle

Which bfeed among the lilies.

6 “aUntil 1the cool of the day

When the shadows flee away,

I will go my way to the mountain of bmyrrh

And to the hill of bfrankincense.

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 summit of cAmana,

From the summit 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;

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 an 1aorchard of bpomegranates

With cchoice fruits, dhenna with nard plants,

14 aNard 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 3be wafted abroad.

May bmy beloved come into his garden

And eat its cchoice fruits!”