Song of Solomon 4
New King James Version
The Bridegroom Praises the Bride
The Beloved
4 Behold, (A)you are fair, my love!
Behold, you are fair!
You have dove’s eyes behind your veil.
Your hair is like a (B)flock of goats,
Going down from Mount Gilead.
2 (C)Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep
Which have come up from the washing,
Every one of which bears twins,
And none is [a]barren among them.
3 Your lips are like a strand of scarlet,
And your mouth is lovely.
(D)Your temples behind your veil
Are like a piece of pomegranate.
4 (E)Your neck is like the tower of David,
Built (F)for an armory,
On which hang a thousand [b]bucklers,
All shields of mighty men.
5 (G)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle,
Which feed among the lilies.
6 (H)Until the day breaks
And the shadows flee away,
I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh
And to the hill of frankincense.
7 (I)You are all fair, my love,
And there is no spot in you.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse,
With me from Lebanon.
Look from the top of Amana,
From the top of Senir (J)and Hermon,
From the lions’ dens,
From the mountains of the leopards.
9 You have ravished my heart,
My sister, my spouse;
You have ravished my heart
With one look of your eyes,
With one link of your necklace.
10 How fair is your love,
My sister, my spouse!
(K)How much better than wine is your love,
And the [c]scent of your perfumes
Than all spices!
11 Your lips, O my spouse,
Drip as the honeycomb;
(L)Honey and milk are under your tongue;
And the fragrance of your garments
Is (M)like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 A garden [d]enclosed
Is my sister, my spouse,
A spring shut up,
A fountain sealed.
13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
With pleasant fruits,
Fragrant henna with spikenard,
14 Spikenard and saffron,
Calamus and cinnamon,
With all trees of frankincense,
Myrrh and aloes,
With all the chief spices—
15 A fountain of gardens,
A well of (N)living waters,
And streams from Lebanon.
The Shulamite
16 Awake, O north wind,
And come, O south!
Blow upon my garden,
That its spices may flow out.
(O)Let my beloved come to his garden
And eat its pleasant (P)fruits.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 4:2 bereaved
- Song of Solomon 4:4 Small shields
- Song of Solomon 4:10 fragrance
- Song of Solomon 4:12 locked or barred
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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International