M How beautiful you are, my darling.
How very beautiful!
Behind your veil,
your eyes are doves.(A)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gilead.(B)
Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing.[a](C)
Your lips are like a scarlet cord,(D)
and your mouth[b] is lovely.
Behind your veil,
your brow[c] is like a slice of pomegranate.(E)
Your neck is like the tower of David,(F)
constructed in layers.
A thousand bucklers are hung on it—
all of them shields of warriors.[d]
Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle,(G) that feed among the lilies.
Before the day breaks[e]
and the shadows flee,(H)
I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh
and the hill of frankincense.(I)
You are absolutely beautiful,(J) my darling,
with no imperfection in you.

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Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 4:2 Lit and no one bereaved among them
  2. Song of Solomon 4:3 Or speech
  3. Song of Solomon 4:3 Or temple, or cheek, or lips
  4. Song of Solomon 4:4 Perhaps describing the woman’s necklace
  5. Song of Solomon 4:6 Lit breathes

He

How beautiful you are, my darling!
    Oh, how beautiful!
    Your eyes behind your veil(A) are doves.(B)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from the hills of Gilead.(C)
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
    not one of them is alone.(D)
Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
    your mouth(E) is lovely.(F)
Your temples behind your veil
    are like the halves of a pomegranate.(G)
Your neck is like the tower(H) of David,
    built with courses of stone[a];
on it hang a thousand shields,(I)
    all of them shields of warriors.
Your breasts(J) are like two fawns,
    like twin fawns of a gazelle(K)
    that browse among the lilies.(L)
Until the day breaks
    and the shadows flee,(M)
I will go to the mountain of myrrh(N)
    and to the hill of incense.
You are altogether beautiful,(O) my darling;
    there is no flaw(P) in you.

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Footnotes

  1. Song of Songs 4:4 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.