Add parallel Print Page Options

I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
    If you find my beloved,
    that you tell him that I am faint with love.

Friends

How is your beloved better than another beloved,
    you fairest among women?
How is your beloved better than another beloved,
that you do so adjure us?

Beloved

10 My beloved is white and ruddy.
    The best among ten thousand.
11 His head is like the purest gold.
    His hair is bushy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks,
    washed with milk, mounted like jewels.
13 His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes.
    His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
14 His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl.
    His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
15 His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold.
    His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16 His mouth is sweetness;
    yes, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
    daughters of Jerusalem.

Read full chapter

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,(A)
if you find my love,
tell him that I am lovesick.(B)

Young Women

What makes the one you love better than another,
most beautiful of women?(C)
What makes him better than another,
that you would give us this charge?

Woman

10 My love is fit and strong,[a](D)
notable among ten thousand.(E)

11 His head is purest gold.
His hair is wavy[b](F)
and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves(G)
beside flowing streams,
washed in milk
and set like jewels.[c]
13 His cheeks(H) are like beds of spice,
mounds of[d] perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.(I)
14 His arms[e] are rods of gold
set[f] with beryl.(J)
His body[g] is an ivory panel
covered with lapis lazuli.(K)
15 His legs are alabaster pillars
set on pedestals of pure gold.
His presence is like Lebanon,(L)
as majestic as the cedars.(M)
16 His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.(N)
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 5:10 Or is radiant and ruddy
  2. 5:11 Or is like palm leaves; Hb obscure
  3. 5:12 Lit milk sitting in fullness
  4. 5:13 LXX, Vg read spice, yielding
  5. 5:14 Lit hands
  6. 5:14 Lit filled; Sg 5:2,12
  7. 5:14 Lit abdomen