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.

¹⁶ Awake, north wind,
    and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,^(AM)
    that its fragrance^(AN) may spread everywhere.
Let my beloved^(AO) come into his garden
    and taste its choice fruits.^(AP)

5 I have come into my garden,^(A) my sister, my bride;^(B)
    I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
    I have drunk my wine and my milk.^(C)

Eat, friends, and drink;
    drink your fill of love.

² I slept but my heart was awake.
    Listen! My beloved is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
    my dove,^(D) my flawless^(E) one.^(F)
My head is drenched with dew,
    my hair with the dampness of the night.”
³ I have taken off my robe—
    must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
    must I soil them again?
⁴ My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
    my heart began to pound for him.
⁵ I arose to open for my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,^(G)
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened for my beloved,^(H)
    but my beloved had left; he was gone.^(I)
    My heart sank at his departure.^[a]
I looked^(J) for him but did not find him.
    I called him but he did not answer.
⁷ The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.^(K)
They beat me, they bruised me;
    they took away my cloak,
    those watchmen of the walls!
⁸ Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you^(L)—
    if you find my beloved,^(M)
what will you tell him?
    Tell him I am faint with love.^(N)

⁹ How is your beloved better than others,
    most beautiful of women?^(O)
How is your beloved better than others,
    that you so charge us?

¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
    outstanding among ten thousand.^(P)
11 His head is purest gold;
    his hair is wavy
    and black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves^(Q)
    by the water streams,
washed in milk,^(R)
    mounted like jewels.
¹³ His cheeks^(S) are like beds of spice^(T)
    yielding perfume.
His lips are like lilies^(U)
    dripping with myrrh.^(V)
14 His arms are rods of gold
    set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
    decorated with lapis lazuli.^(W)
15 His legs are pillars of marble
    set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,^(X)
    choice as its cedars.
¹⁶ His mouth^(Y) is sweetness itself;
    he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved,^(Z) this is my friend,
    daughters of Jerusalem.^(AA)

⁵ Who is this coming up from the wilderness^(D)
    leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I roused you;
    there your mother conceived^(E) you,
    there she who was in labor gave you birth.
⁶ Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love^(F) is as strong as death,
    its jealousy^[a](G) unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame.^[b]
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
    all the wealth of one’s house for love,
    it^[c] would be utterly scorned.^(H)

⁸ We have a little sister,
    and her breasts are not yet grown.
What shall we do for our sister
    on the day she is spoken for?
⁹ If she is a wall,
    we will build towers of silver on her.
If she is a door,
    we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

¹⁰ I am a wall,
    and my breasts are like towers.
Thus I have become in his eyes
    like one bringing contentment.
¹¹ Solomon had a vineyard^(I) in Baal Hamon;
    he let out his vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for its fruit
    a thousand shekels^[d](J) of silver.
¹² But my own vineyard^(K) is mine to give;
    the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
    and two hundred^[e] are for those who tend its fruit.

¹³ You who dwell in the gardens
    with friends in attendance,
    let me hear your voice!

¹⁴ Come away, my beloved,
    and be like a gazelle^(L)
or like a young stag^(M)
    on the spice-laden mountains.^(N)