4:1 HOW FAIR you are, my love [he said], how very fair! Your eyes behind your veil [remind me] of those of a dove; your hair [makes me think of the black, wavy fleece] of a flock of [the Arabian] goats which one sees trailing down Mount Gilead [beyond the Jordan on the frontiers of the desert]. |
4:2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes which have come up from the washing, of which all are in pairs, and none is missing among them. |
4:3 Your lips are like a thread of scarlet, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. |
4:4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an arsenal, whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors. |
4:5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, like twins of a gazelle that feed among the lilies. |
4:6 Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, [in my thoughts] I will get to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense [to him whom my soul adores]. |
4:7 [He exclaimed] O my love, how beautiful you are! There is no flaw in you! |
4:8 Come away with me from Lebanon, my [promised] bride, come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the top of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards. |
4:9 You have ravished my heart {and} given me courage, my sister, my [promised] bride; you have ravished my heart {and} given me courage with one look from your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. |
4:10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my [promised] bride! How much better is your love than wine! And the fragrance of your ointments than all spices! |
4:11 Your lips, O my [promised] bride, drop honey as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue. And the odor of your garments is like the odor of Lebanon. |
4:12 A garden enclosed {and} barred is my sister, my [promised] bride--a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. |
4:13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates {or} a paradise with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants, |
4:14 Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices. |
4:15 You are a fountain [springing up] in a garden, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon. |
4:16 [You have called me a garden, she said] Oh, I pray that the [cold] north wind and the [soft] south wind may blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out [in abundance for you in whom my soul delights]. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits. |