The Song of Solomon 4:1-16

  • Shepherd (1-5)

    • “You are beautiful, my beloved” (1)

  • Young woman (6)

  • Shepherd (7-16a)

    • ‘You have captured my heart, my bride’ (9)

  • Young woman (16b)

4  “Look! You are beautiful, my beloved. Look! You are beautiful. Your eyes are those of doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goatsStreaming down the mountains of Gilʹe·ad.+   Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheepThat have come up from being washed,All of them bearing twins,And not one has lost her young.   Your lips are like a scarlet thread,And your speech is delightful. Like a segment of pomegranateAre your cheeks* behind your veil.   Your neck+ is like the tower of David,+Built with courses of stoneUpon which are hung a thousand shields,All the circular shields of the mighty men.+   Your two breasts are like two fawns,The twins of a gazelle,+That feed among the lilies.”   “Until the day grows breezy* and the shadows flee,I will go my way to the mountain of myrrhAnd to the hill of frankincense.”+   “You are altogether beautiful, my beloved,+There is no blemish in you.   Come with me from Lebʹa·non, my bride,Come with me from Lebʹa·non.+ Descend from the peak of A·maʹnah,*From the peak of Seʹnir, the peak of Herʹmon,+From the lairs of lions, from the mountains of leopards.   You have captured my heart,+ my sister, my bride,You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes,With one pendant of your necklace. 10  How beautiful your expressions of affection are,+ my sister, my bride! Your expressions of affection are far better than wine,+And the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!+ 11  Your lips, my bride, drip with comb honey.+ Honey and milk are under your tongue,+And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebʹa·non. 12  My sister, my bride, is like a locked garden,A locked garden, a spring sealed shut. 13  Your shoots* are a paradise* of pomegranatesWith the choicest fruits, with henna along with spikenard plants, 14  Spikenard+ and saffron, cane*+ and cinnamon,+With all sorts of trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes,+Along with all the finest perfumes.+ 15  You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water,And flowing streams from Lebʹa·non.+ 16  Awake, O north wind;Come in, O south wind. Breathe* upon my garden. Let its fragrance spread.” “Let my dear one come into his gardenAnd eat its choicest fruits.”

Footnotes

Or “temples.”
Lit., “the day breathes.”
Or “Anti-Lebanon.”
Or possibly, “skin.”
Or “garden.”
An aromatic reed.
Or “Blow gently.”