Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

4. Lover

¹ How beautiful you are, my darling!
   Oh, how beautiful!
   Your eyes behind your veil are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
   descending from the hills of Gilead.
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.
³ Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
   your mouth is lovely.
Your temples behind your veil
   are like the halves of a pomegranate.
⁴ Your neck is like the tower of David,
   built with courses of stone The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.;
on it hang a thousand shields,
   all of them shields of warriors.
⁵ Your breasts are like two fawns,
   like twin fawns of a gazelle
   that browse among the lilies.
⁶ Until the day breaks
   and the shadows flee,
I will go to the mountain of myrrh
   and to the hill of incense.
⁷ You are altogether beautiful, my darling;
   there is no flaw in you.

    ⁸ Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
   come with me from Lebanon.
Descend from the crest of Amana,
   from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon,
from the lions’ dens
   and the mountain haunts of leopards.
⁹ You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
   you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
   with one jewel of your necklace.
¹⁰ How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
   How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume
   more than any spice!
¹¹ Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
   milk and honey are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments
   is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
¹² You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride;
   you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.
¹³ Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
   with choice fruits,
   with henna and nard,
    ¹⁴ nard and saffron,
   calamus and cinnamon,
   with every kind of incense tree,
   with myrrh and aloes
   and all the finest spices.
¹⁵ You are Or I am (spoken by She) a garden fountain,
   a well of flowing water
   streaming down from Lebanon.

She

    ¹⁶ Awake, north wind,
   and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,
   that its fragrance may spread everywhere.
Let my beloved come into his garden
   and taste its choice fruits.