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
New Living Translation
8 Make this promise, O women of Jerusalem—
If you find my lover,
tell him I am weak with love.
Young Women of Jerusalem
9 Why is your lover better than all others,
O woman of rare beauty?
What makes your lover so special
that we must promise this?
Young Woman
10 My lover is dark and dazzling,
better than ten thousand others!
11 His head is finest gold,
his wavy hair is black as a raven.
12 His eyes sparkle like doves
beside springs of water;
they are set like jewels
washed in milk.
13 His cheeks are like gardens of spices
giving off fragrance.
His lips are like lilies,
perfumed with myrrh.
14 His arms are like rounded bars of gold,
set with beryl.
His body is like bright ivory,
glowing with lapis lazuli.
15 His legs are like marble pillars
set in sockets of finest gold.
His posture is stately,
like the noble cedars of Lebanon.
16 His mouth is sweetness itself;
he is desirable in every way.
Such, O women of Jerusalem,
is my lover, my friend.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
