Song of Solomon 4-6

English Standard Version

4 Behold, ^(A)you are beautiful, my love,
    behold, you are beautiful!
^(B)Your eyes are doves
    ^(C)behind your veil.
^(D)Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down ^(E)the slopes of Gilead.
² Your ^(F)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 has lost its young.
³ Your lips are like ^(G)a scarlet thread,
    and your mouth is ^(H)lovely.
Your ^(I)cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    ^(J)behind your veil.
⁴ Your ^(K)neck is like the tower of David,
    built in ^(L)rows of stone;^[a]
on it ^(M)hang a thousand shields,
    all of ^(N)them shields of warriors.
⁵ Your ^(O)two breasts are like two ^(P)fawns,
    twins of a gazelle,
    that ^(Q)graze among the lilies.
^6 (R)Until the day breathes
    and the shadows flee,
I will go away to the mountain of ^(S)myrrh
    and the hill of ^(T)frankincense.
^7 (U)You are altogether beautiful, my love;
    there is no ^(V)flaw in you.
^8 (W)Come with me from ^(X)Lebanon, my ^(Y)bride;
    come with me from ^(Z)Lebanon.
Depart^[b] from the peak of Amana,
    from the peak of ^(AA)Senir and ^(AB)Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
    from the mountains of leopards.

^(BB)Let my beloved come to his ^(BC)garden,
    and eat its ^(BD)choicest fruits.

5 I ^(BE)came to my garden, my ^(BF)sister, my bride,
    I gathered my ^(BG)myrrh with my spice,
    I ate my ^(BH)honeycomb with my honey,
    I ^(BI)drank my wine with my milk.

Eat, ^(BJ)friends, drink,
    and be drunk with love!

² I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is ^(BK)knocking.
“Open to me, my ^(BL)sister, my ^(BM)love,
    my ^(BN)dove, my ^(BO)perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
    my ^(BP)locks with the drops of the night.”
^3 (BQ)I had put off my garment;
    how could I put it on?
I had ^(BR)bathed my feet;
    how could I soil them?
⁴ My beloved put his hand to the latch,
    and my heart was thrilled within me.
⁵ I arose to open to my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with ^(BS)liquid myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened to my beloved,
    but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he ^(BT)spoke.
^(BU)I sought him, but found him not;
    ^(BV)I called him, but he gave no answer.
^7 (BW)The watchmen found me
    as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
    they took away my veil,
    those watchmen of the walls.
⁸ I ^(BX)adjure you, O ^(BY)daughters of Jerusalem,
    if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
    ^(BZ)I am sick with love.

⁹ What is your beloved more than another beloved,
    O ^(CA)most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
    that you thus ^(CB)adjure us?

¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ^(CC)ruddy,
    ^(CD)distinguished among ten thousand.
¹¹ His head is the finest gold;
    ^(CE)his locks are wavy,
    black as a raven.
¹² His ^(CF)eyes are like doves
    beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
    sitting beside a full pool.^[c]
13 His ^(CG)cheeks are like ^(CH)beds of spices,
    mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are ^(CI)lilies,
    dripping ^(CJ)liquid myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold,
    set with ^(CK)jewels.
His body is polished ivory,^[d]
    bedecked with ^(CL)sapphires.^[e]
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
    set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like ^(CM)Lebanon,
    choice as the cedars.
¹⁶ His ^(CN)mouth^[f] is most sweet,
    and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
    O ^(CO)daughters of Jerusalem.

6 Where has your beloved gone,
    O ^(CP)most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
    that we may seek him with you?

² My beloved has gone down to his ^(CQ)garden
    to ^(CR)the beds of spices,
to ^(CS)graze^[g] in the gardens
    and to gather ^(CT)lilies.
^3 (CU)I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
    he grazes among the lilies.

⁴ You are beautiful as ^(CV)Tirzah, ^(CW)my love,
    ^(CX)lovely as ^(CY)Jerusalem,
    ^(CZ)awesome as an army with banners.
⁵ Turn away your eyes from me,
    for they overwhelm me—
^(DA)Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
^6 (DB)Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
    that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
    not one among them has lost its young.
^7 (DC)Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
⁸ There are ^(DD)sixty ^(DE)queens and eighty ^(DF)concubines,
    and ^(DG)virgins without number.
⁹ My ^(DH)dove, my ^(DI)perfect one, is the only one,
    the only one of her mother,
    pure to ^(DJ)her who bore her.
^(DK)The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    ^(DL)the queens and ^(DM)concubines also, and they praised her.

¹¹ I went down to the nut orchard
    to look at ^(DP)the blossoms of the valley,
^(DQ)to see whether the vines had budded,
    whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
^12 (DR)Before I was aware, my desire set me
    among ^(DS)the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.^[h]

^13 [i] Return, return, O ^(DT)Shulammite,
    return, return, that we may look upon you.

Why should you look upon ^(DU)the Shulammite,
    as upon ^(DV)a dance before ^(DW)two armies?^[j]