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The Young Woman’s Beauty Extolled

How beautiful you are, my love,
    how very beautiful!
Your eyes are doves
    behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
    moving down the slopes of Gilead.(A)
Your 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 is bereaved.(B)
Your lips are like a crimson thread,
    and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.(C)
Your neck is like the tower of David,
    built in courses;
on it hang a thousand bucklers,
    all of them shields of warriors.(D)
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle,
    that feed among the lilies.(E)
Until the day breathes
    and the shadows flee,
I will hasten to the mountain of myrrh
    and the hill of frankincense.(F)
You are altogether beautiful, my love;
    there is no flaw in you.(G)

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The Bride’s Beauty Extolled

Behold, you are beautiful, my love,
behold, you are beautiful!
Your eyes are doves
    behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
    moving down the slopes of Gilead.
Your 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 is bereaved.
Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
    and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
Your neck is like the tower of David,
    built for an arsenal,[a]
whereon hang a thousand bucklers,
    all of them shields of warriors.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle,
    that feed among the lilies.
Until the day breathes
    and the shadows flee,
I will hie me to the mountain of myrrh
    and the hill of frankincense.
You are all fair, my love;
    there is no flaw in you.

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Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 4:4 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain