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Lover

Behold, you are beautiful, my love.

    Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.
    Your hair is as a flock of goats,
    that descend from Mount Gilead.
Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock,
    which have come up from the washing,
    where every one of them has twins.
    None is bereaved among them.
Your lips are like scarlet thread.
    Your mouth is lovely.
    Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
Your neck is like David’s tower built for an armory,
    on which a thousand shields hang,
    all the shields of the mighty men.
Your two breasts are like two fawns
    that are twins of a roe,
    which feed among the lilies.

Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away,
    I will go to the mountain of myrrh,
    to the hill of frankincense.

You are all beautiful, my love.
    There is no spot in you.
Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
    with me from Lebanon.
    Look from the top of Amana,
    from the top of Senir and Hermon,
    from the lions’ dens,
    from the mountains of the leopards.

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride.
    You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes,
    with one chain of your neck.
10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
    How much better is your love than wine,
    the fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices!
11 Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb.
    Honey and milk are under your tongue.
    The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
12 My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden;
    a locked up spring,
    a sealed fountain.
13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits,
    henna with spikenard plants,
14     spikenard and saffron,
    calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree;
    myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,
15     a fountain of gardens,
    a well of living waters,
    flowing streams from Lebanon.

Beloved

16 Awake, north wind, and come, you south!
    Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden,
    and taste his precious fruits.

Young Man

You are beautiful, my darling,
    beautiful beyond words.
Your eyes are like doves
    behind your veil.
Your hair falls in waves,
    like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are as white as sheep,
    recently shorn and freshly washed.
Your smile is flawless,
    each tooth matched with its twin.[a]
Your lips are like scarlet ribbon;
    your mouth is inviting.
Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates
    behind your veil.
Your neck is as beautiful as the tower of David,
    jeweled with the shields of a thousand heroes.
Your breasts are like two fawns,
    twin fawns of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
Before the dawn breezes blow
    and the night shadows flee,
I will hurry to the mountain of myrrh
    and to the hill of frankincense.
You are altogether beautiful, my darling,
    beautiful in every way.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
    come with me from Lebanon.
Come down[b] from Mount Amana,
    from the peaks of Senir and Hermon,
where the lions have their dens
    and leopards live among the hills.

You have captured my heart,
    my treasure,[c] my bride.
You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes,
    with a single jewel of your necklace.
10 Your love delights me,
    my treasure, my bride.
Your love is better than wine,
    your perfume more fragrant than spices.
11 Your lips are as sweet as nectar, my bride.
    Honey and milk are under your tongue.
Your clothes are scented
    like the cedars of Lebanon.

12 You are my private garden, my treasure, my bride,
    a secluded spring, a hidden fountain.
13 Your thighs shelter a paradise of pomegranates
    with rare spices—
henna with nard,
14     nard and saffron,
    fragrant calamus and cinnamon,
with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes,
    and every other lovely spice.
15 You are a garden fountain,
    a well of fresh water
    streaming down from Lebanon’s mountains.

Young Woman

16 Awake, north wind!
    Rise up, south wind!
Blow on my garden
    and spread its fragrance all around.
Come into your garden, my love;
    taste its finest fruits.

Footnotes

  1. 4:2 Hebrew Not one is missing; each has a twin.
  2. 4:8 Or Look down.
  3. 4:9 Hebrew my sister; also in 4:10, 12.