Song of Solomon 5:8-16
Holman Christian Standard Bible
9 Y What 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?
10 W My love is fit and strong,[a](D)
notable among ten thousand.(E)
11 His head is purest gold.
His hair is wavy[b](F)
and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves(G)
beside streams of water,
washed in milk
and set like jewels.[c]
13 His cheeks(H) are like beds of spice,
towers of[d] perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.(I)
14 His arms[e] are rods of gold
set[f] with topaz.[g](J)
His body[h] is an ivory panel
covered with sapphires.(K)
15 His legs are alabaster pillars
set on pedestals of pure gold.
His presence is like Lebanon,(L)
as majestic as the cedars.(M)
16 His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.(N)
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 5:10 Or is radiant and ruddy
- Song of Solomon 5:11 Or is [like] palm leaves; Hb obscure
- Song of Solomon 5:12 Lit milk sitting in fullness
- Song of Solomon 5:13 LXX, Vg read spice, yielding
- Song of Solomon 5:14 Lit hands
- Song of Solomon 5:14 Lit filled; Sg 5:2,12
- Song of Solomon 5:14 Probably yellow topaz
- Song of Solomon 5:14 Lit abdomen
Song of Solomon 5:8-16
Common English Bible
8 I 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]
9 How 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]
10 My lover is radiant and ruddy;
he stands out among ten thousand!
11 His head is finest gold;
his wavy hair, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves
by channels of water.
They are bathing in milk,
sitting by brimming pools.
13 His cheeks are like fragrant plantings,
towers of spices.
His lips are lilies
dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are gold cylinders
studded with jewels.
His belly is smooth ivory
encrusted with sapphires.
15 His thighs are pillars of whitest stone
set on pedestals of gold.
His appearance—like Lebanon,
stately, like the cedars.
16 His mouth is everything sweet,
every bit of him desirable.
This is my love, this my dearest,
daughters of Jerusalem!
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