Song of Songs 5:8-16

Christian Standard Bible

⁸Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,^(A)
if you find my love,
tell him that I am lovesick.^(B)

Young Women

⁹What makes the one you love better than another,
most beautiful of women?^(C)
What makes him better than another,
that you would give us this charge?

Woman

¹⁰My love is fit and strong,^[a]^(D)
notable among ten thousand.^(E)

¹¹His head is purest gold.
His hair is wavy^[b]^(F)
and black as a raven.
¹²His eyes are like doves^(G)
beside flowing streams,
washed in milk
and set like jewels.^[c]
¹³His cheeks^(H) are like beds of spice,
mounds of^[d] perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.^(I)
¹⁴His arms^[e] are rods of gold
set^[f] with beryl.^(J)
His body^[g] is an ivory panel
covered with lapis lazuli.^(K)
¹⁵His legs are alabaster pillars
set on pedestals of pure gold.
His presence is like Lebanon,^(L)
as majestic as the cedars.^(M)
¹⁶His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.^(N)
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.

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Footnotes

5:10 Or is radiant and ruddy
5:11 Or is like palm leaves; Hb obscure
5:12 Lit milk sitting in fullness
5:13 LXX, Vg read spice, yielding
5:14 Lit hands
5:14 Lit filled; Sg 5:2,12
5:14 Lit abdomen

Song of Solomon 5:8-16

Common English Bible

⁸I place you under oath, daughters of Jerusalem:
If you find my love, what should you tell him?
That I’m weak with love!

[Daughters of Jerusalem]

⁹How is your lover different from any other lover,
you who are the most beautiful of women?
How is your lover different from any other lover,
that you make us swear a solemn pledge?

In praise of him

[Woman]

¹⁰My lover is radiant and ruddy;
        he stands out among ten thousand!
¹¹His head is finest gold;
        his wavy hair, black as a raven.
¹²His eyes are like doves
        by channels of water.
They are bathing in milk,
        sitting by brimming pools.
¹³His cheeks are like fragrant plantings,
        towers of spices.
        His lips are lilies
            dripping liquid myrrh.
¹⁴His arms are gold cylinders
        studded with jewels.
His belly is smooth ivory
        encrusted with sapphires.
¹⁵His thighs are pillars of whitest stone
        set on pedestals of gold.
His appearance—like Lebanon,
        stately, like the cedars.
¹⁶His mouth is everything sweet,
        every bit of him desirable.

This is my love, this my dearest,
daughters of Jerusalem!

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Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Song of Songs 5:8-16 Christian Standard Bible