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Song of Solomon 4
Contemporary English Version
Song of Solomon 4
Contemporary English Version
What a Beautiful Bride
He Speaks:
4 My darling, you are lovely,
so very lovely—
as you look through your veil,
your eyes are those of a dove.
Your hair tosses about
as gracefully as goats
coming down from Gilead.
2 Your teeth are whiter
than sheep freshly washed;
they match perfectly,
not one is missing.
3 Your lips are crimson cords,
your mouth is shapely;
behind your veil are hidden
beautiful rosy cheeks.[a]
4 Your neck is more graceful
than the tower of David,
decorated with thousands
of warriors' shields.
5 Your breasts are perfect;
they are twin deer
feeding among lilies.
6 I will hasten to those hills
sprinkled with sweet perfume
and stay there till sunrise.
7 My darling, you are lovely
in every way.
8 My bride, together
we will leave Lebanon!
We will say goodbye
to the peaks of Mount Amana,
Senir, and Hermon,
where lions and leopards
live in the caves.
9 My bride, my very own,
you have stolen my heart!
With one glance from your eyes
and the glow of your necklace,
you have stolen my heart.
10 Your love is sweeter than wine;
the smell of your perfume
is more fragrant than spices.
11 Your lips are a honeycomb;
milk and honey
flow from your tongue.
Your dress has the aroma
of cedar trees from Lebanon.
12 My bride, my very own,
you are a garden, a fountain
closed off to all others.
13 Your arms[b] are vines,
covered with delicious fruits
and all sorts of spices—
henna, nard, 14 saffron,
calamus, cinnamon,
frankincense, myrrh, and aloes
—all the finest spices.
15 You are a spring in the garden,
a fountain of pure water,
and a refreshing stream
from Mount Lebanon.
She Speaks:
16 Let the north wind blow,
the south wind too!
Let them spread the aroma
of my garden,
so the one I love
may enter and taste
its delicious fruits.
Song of Solomon 4
Easy-to-Read Version
Song of Solomon 4
Easy-to-Read Version
He Speaks to Her
4 My darling, you are so beautiful!
Oh, you are beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves
under your veil.
Your hair is long and flowing,
like little goats dancing down the slopes of Mount Gilead.
2 Your teeth are white like ewes[a]
just coming from their bath.
They all give birth to twins;
not one of them has lost a baby.
3 Your lips are like a red silk thread.
Your mouth is beautiful.
Your cheeks under your veil
are like two slices of pomegranate.
4 Your neck is long and thin
like David’s tower.
That tower was built to be decorated[b]
with a thousand shields on its walls,
with the shields of powerful soldiers.
5 Your breasts are like twin fawns,
like twins of a gazelle,
feeding among the lilies.
6 I will go to that mountain of myrrh
and to that hill of frankincense
while the day breathes its last breath,
and the shadows run away.
7 My darling, you are beautiful all over.
Every part of you is perfect.
8 Come with me, my bride, from Lebanon.
Come with me from Lebanon.
Come from the peak of Amana,[c]
from the top of Senir[d] and Hermon,
from the lion’s caves,
from the mountain of the leopards.
9 My darling,[e] my bride, you excite me!
You have stolen my heart with just one quick look from your eyes,
with just one of the jewels from your necklace.
10 Your love is so beautiful, my darling, my bride!
Your love is better than wine.
The smell of your perfume
is better than any kind of spice!
11 My bride, your lips drip honey.
Honey and milk are under your tongue.
Your clothes smell as sweet as perfume.[f]
12 My darling, my bride,
you are pure like a locked garden.
You are like a locked pool,
a closed fountain.
13 Your limbs are like a garden
filled with pomegranates and other pleasant fruit,
with all the best spices:
henna,[g]
14 nard, saffron,[h] calamus,[i] and cinnamon.[j]
Your limbs are like a garden
filled with trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloe.
15 You are like a garden fountain—
a well of fresh water—
flowing down from the mountains of Lebanon.
She Speaks
16 Wake up, north wind.
Come, south wind.
Blow on my garden.
Spread its sweet smell.
Let my lover enter his garden
and eat its pleasant fruit.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 4:2 ewes Female goats.
- Song of Solomon 4:4 Your neck … decorated Or “Your neck is like David’s tower, built with rows of stone.” This would mean she wore many necklaces, one above the other, which looked like rows of stone in a tower.
- Song of Solomon 4:8 Amana The name of a mountain in Lebanon.
- Song of Solomon 4:8 Senir The Amorite word for “Snow Mountain.” This means Mount Hermon.
- Song of Solomon 4:9 darling Literally, “sister.” Also in verses 10, 11; 5:1, 2.
- Song of Solomon 4:11 perfume Or “Lebanon.”
- Song of Solomon 4:13 henna A plant with sweet-smelling, blue-yellow flowers that grows in clusters (groups) like grapes.
- Song of Solomon 4:14 saffron A kind of yellow flower used in making perfume.
- Song of Solomon 4:14 calamus A kind of reed plant used in making perfume.
- Song of Solomon 4:14 cinnamon A kind of plant used as a spice and in making perfume.
Song of Solomon 4
Living Bible
Song of Solomon 4
Living Bible
4 King Solomon: “How beautiful you are, my love, how beautiful! Your eyes are those of doves. Your hair falls across your face like flocks of goats that frisk across the slopes of Gilead. 2 Your teeth are white as sheep’s wool, newly shorn and washed; perfectly matched, without one missing. 3 Your lips are like a thread of scarlet—and how beautiful your mouth. Your cheeks are matched loveliness[a] behind your locks. 4 Your neck is stately[b] as the tower of David, jeweled with a thousand heroes’ shields. 5 Your breasts are like twin fawns of a gazelle, feeding among the lilies. 6 Until the morning dawns and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. 7 You are so beautiful, my love, in every part of you.
8 “Come with me from Lebanon, my bride. We will look down from the summit of the mountain, from the top of Mount Hermon,[c] where the lions have their dens and panthers prowl. 9 You have ravished my heart, my lovely one, my bride; I am overcome by one glance of your eyes, by a single bead of your necklace. 10 How sweet is your love, my darling, my bride. How much better it is than mere wine. The perfume of your love is more fragrant than all the richest spices. 11 Your lips, my dear, are made of honey. Yes, honey and cream are under your tongue, and the scent of your garments is like the scent of the mountains and cedars of Lebanon.
12 “My darling bride is like a private garden, a spring that no one else can have, a fountain of my own. 13-14 You are like a lovely orchard bearing precious fruit,[d] with the rarest of perfumes; nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, and perfume from every other incense tree, as well as myrrh and aloes, and every other lovely spice. 15 You are a garden fountain, a well of living water, refreshing as the streams from the Lebanon mountains.”
The Girl: 16 “Come, north wind, awaken; come, south wind, blow upon my garden and waft its lovely perfume to my beloved. Let him come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits.”
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 4:3 matched loveliness, literally, “like halves of a pomegranate.” behind your locks, literally, “behind your veil.”
- Song of Solomon 4:4 Your neck is stately, implied.
- Song of Solomon 4:8 look down from the summit of the mountain, from the top of Mount Hermon, literally, “depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon.”
- Song of Solomon 4:13 You are like a lovely orchard bearing precious fruit, literally, “Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates.”
Song of Songs 4
New International Version
Song of Songs 4
New International Version
He
4 How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil(A) are doves.(B)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from the hills of Gilead.(C)
2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
not one of them is alone.(D)
3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
your mouth(E) is lovely.(F)
Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.(G)
4 Your neck is like the tower(H) of David,
built with courses of stone[a];
on it hang a thousand shields,(I)
all of them shields of warriors.
5 Your breasts(J) are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle(K)
that browse among the lilies.(L)
6 Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,(M)
I will go to the mountain of myrrh(N)
and to the hill of incense.
7 You are altogether beautiful,(O) my darling;
there is no flaw(P) in you.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,(Q)
come with me from Lebanon.
Descend from the crest of Amana,
from the top of Senir,(R) the summit of Hermon,(S)
from the lions’ dens
and the mountain haunts of leopards.
9 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;(T)
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.(U)
10 How delightful(V) is your love(W), my sister, my bride!
How much more pleasing is your love than wine,(X)
and the fragrance of your perfume(Y)
more than any spice!
11 Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
milk and honey are under your tongue.(Z)
The fragrance of your garments
is like the fragrance of Lebanon.(AA)
12 You are a garden(AB) locked up, my sister, my bride;(AC)
you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.(AD)
13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates(AE)
with choice fruits,
with henna(AF) and nard,
14 nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,(AG)
with every kind of incense tree,
with myrrh(AH) and aloes(AI)
and all the finest spices.(AJ)
15 You are[b] a garden(AK) fountain,(AL)
a well of flowing water
streaming down from Lebanon.
She
Footnotes
- Song of Songs 4:4 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
- Song of Songs 4:15 Or I am (spoken by She)
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
Living Bible (TLB)
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.