Song of Solomon 4:1-7

The Voice

4 Him (to her): You, my love, are beautiful.
So beautiful!

Because stimulating images come forth when the lovers describe in intimate detail each other’s bodies, Jewish men were discouraged from reading this greatest of songs until the age of 30.

    Your eyes are like doves
        nestled behind your veil.
    Your hair moves as gracefully as a flock of goats
        leaping down the slopes of Mount Gilead.
²    Your teeth are pearl white like a flock of sheep shorn,
        fresh up from a wash.
    Each perfect and paired with another;
        not one of them is lost.
³    Your lips are as red as scarlet threads;
        your mouth is beautiful.
    Your cheeks rosy and round are beneath your veil,
        like the halves of a pomegranate.
⁴    Your neck is elegant like the tower of David,
        perfectly fit stone-by-stone.
    There hang a thousand shields,
        the shields of mighty men.
⁵    Your breasts are like two fawns,
        twin gazelles grazing in a meadow of lilies.
⁶    As the day breathes its morning breeze
        and shadows turn and flee,
    I will go up your myrrh mountain
        and climb your frankincense hill.
⁷    You are so beautiful, my love,
        without blemish.