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4
He Speaks to Her
1 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* ewes Female goats.
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† 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.
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,‡ Amana The name of a mountain in Lebanon.
from the top of Senir§ Senir The Amorite word for “Snow Mountain.” This means Mount Hermon. and Hermon,
from the lion’s caves,
from the mountain of the leopards.
9 My darling,* darling Literally, “sister.” Also in verses 10, 11; 5:1, 2. 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.† perfume Or “Lebanon.”
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,‡ henna A plant with sweet-smelling, blue-yellow flowers that grows in clusters (groups) like grapes. 14 nard, saffron,§ saffron A kind of yellow flower used in making perfume. calamus,* calamus A kind of reed plant used in making perfume. and cinnamon.† cinnamon A kind of plant used as a spice and in making perfume.
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.

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*4:2 ewes Female goats.

†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.

‡4:8 Amana The name of a mountain in Lebanon.

§4:8 Senir The Amorite word for “Snow Mountain.” This means Mount Hermon.

*4:9 darling Literally, “sister.” Also in verses 10, 11; 5:1, 2.

†4:11 perfume Or “Lebanon.”

‡4:13 henna A plant with sweet-smelling, blue-yellow flowers that grows in clusters (groups) like grapes.

§4:14 saffron A kind of yellow flower used in making perfume.

*4:14 calamus A kind of reed plant used in making perfume.

†4:14 cinnamon A kind of plant used as a spice and in making perfume.

© 1987, 1999, 2006 BLI