Song of Songs 5:8-16

New International Reader's Version

⁸ Women of Jerusalem, make me a promise.
    If you find the one who loves me,
    tell him our love has made me weak.”

⁹ “You are the most beautiful woman of all.
    How is the one you love better than others?
How is he better than anyone else?
    Why do you ask us to make you this promise?”

¹⁰ “The one who loves me is tanned and handsome.
    He’s the finest man among 10,000.
¹¹ His head is like the purest gold.
    His hair is wavy and as black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves
    by streams of water.
They look as if they’ve been washed in milk.
    They are set like jewels in his head.
¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spice
    giving off perfume.
His lips are like lilies
    dripping with myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are like rods of gold
    set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
    decorated with lapis lazuli.
¹⁵ His legs are like pillars of marble
    set on bases of pure gold.
He looks like the finest cedar tree
    in the mountains of Lebanon.
¹⁶ His mouth is very sweet.
    Everything about him is delightful.
That’s what the one who loves me is like.
    That’s what my friend is like, women of Jerusalem.”