4 How beautiful you are, my darling!
    Oh, you are beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil [^Cimparting a sense of mystery] are like doves [1:15].
    Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead [^Ca beautiful site in central Transjordan near the Jabbok river; the image indicates lush, flowing hair].
² Your teeth are like ·newly [^La flock of] sheared sheep
    just coming from ·their bath [a washing; ^Cwhite].
Each one has a twin,
    and none of them is missing [^Ca compliment in an age before dentistry].
³ Your lips are like ·red silk [a scarlet] thread,
    and your mouth is ·lovely [or desirable].
Your ·cheeks [or temple] behind your veil
    are like slices of a pomegranate [^Creddish orange].
⁴ Your neck is like David’s tower [^Cdignified; strong],
    built ·with rows of stones [in courses].
A thousand shields hang on its walls [^Ca necklace that enhances her beauty];
    each shield belongs to a ·strong soldier [hero].
⁵ Your breasts are like two fawns,
    like twins of a gazelle,
    ·feeding [grazing] among the lilies.
⁶ Until the day dawns
    and the shadows ·disappear [flee],
I will go to that mountain of myrrh
    and to that hill of ·incense [frankincense; ^Creferring to the woman].
⁷ My darling, everything about you is beautiful,
    and ·there is nothing at all wrong with you [you have no blemish].
⁸ Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.
    Come with me from Lebanon,
from the top of Mount Amana,
    from the tops of Mount Senir and Mount Hermon.
Come from the lions’ dens
    and from the leopards’ hills [^Capart from him she is in a dangerous place].
⁹ My sister [^Can ancient term of endearment], my bride,
    you ·have thrilled my heart [drive me crazy];
you ·have thrilled my heart [drive me crazy]
    with ·a [^Lone] glance of your eyes,
    with one ·sparkle [^Ljewel] from your necklace.
¹⁰ ·Your love is so sweet [^LHow beautiful is your love], my sister [4:9], my bride.
    Your love is better than wine [^Cmakes one lightheaded],
    and ·your perfume [^Lthe scent of your oils] smells better than any spice.
¹¹ My bride, your lips drip honey;
    honey and milk are under your tongue [^Csensuous liquids that he will explore].
    Your clothes smell like the cedars of Lebanon [^Cthe best cedars].
¹² My sister [4:9], my bride, you are like a garden locked up [^Cshe has not been entered by a man],
    like a ·walled-in [sealed] spring, a ·closed-up [locked] fountain.
¹³ Your ·limbs [^Lshoots; ^Ca botanical term either referring to the woman’s legs or her genital organs] are like an orchard
    of pomegranates with all the best fruit,
filled with ·flowers [henna; 1:14] and nard,
¹⁴ nard and saffron [^Cspicy floral scent], calamus [^Cwoody odor], and cinnamon,
    with trees of incense, myrrh [^Caromatic gum from tree bark], and aloes [^Ca fragrant wood]—
    all the best spices.
¹⁵ You are like a garden fountain—
    a well of ·fresh [^Lliving] water
·flowing [streaming] down from the mountains of Lebanon.

¹⁶ Awake, north wind.
    Come, south wind.
Blow on my garden,
    and let its ·sweet smells [spices] flow out.
Let my lover enter the garden
    and eat its best fruits [^Cshe desires physical intimacy].