4 You are beautiful, my darling,
    beautiful beyond words.
Your eyes are like doves
    behind your veil.
Your hair falls in waves,
    like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.
² Your teeth are as white as sheep,
    recently shorn and freshly washed.
Your smile is flawless,
    each tooth matched with its twin.^[a]
3 Your lips are like scarlet ribbon;
    your mouth is inviting.
Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates
    behind your veil.
⁴ Your neck is as beautiful as the tower of David,
    jeweled with the shields of a thousand heroes.
⁵ Your breasts are like two fawns,
    twin fawns of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
⁶ Before the dawn breezes blow
    and the night shadows flee,
I will hurry to the mountain of myrrh
    and to the hill of frankincense.
⁷ You are altogether beautiful, my darling,
    beautiful in every way.

¹⁶ Awake, north wind!
    Rise up, south wind!
Blow on my garden
    and spread its fragrance all around.
Come into your garden, my love;
    taste its finest fruits.

5 I have entered my garden, my treasure,^[d] my bride!
    I gather myrrh with my spices
and eat honeycomb with my honey.
    I drink wine with my milk.

Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink!
    Yes, drink deeply of your love!

² I slept, but my heart was awake,
    when I heard my lover knocking and calling:
“Open to me, my treasure, my darling,
    my dove, my perfect one.
My head is drenched with dew,
    my hair with the dampness of the night.”

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?

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.