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The Beauty of the Woman

M Beautiful as Tirzah are you, my friend;[a]
    fair as Jerusalem,
    fearsome as celestial visions!
(A)Turn your eyes away from me,
    for they stir me up.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    streaming down from Gilead.
(B)Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
    that come up from the washing,
All of them big with twins,
    none of them barren.

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Footnotes

  1. 6:4–9 The man again celebrates the woman’s beauty. Tirzah: probably meaning “pleasant”; it was the early capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (1 Kgs 16). Celestial visions: the meaning is uncertain. Military images may be implied here, i.e., the “heavenly hosts” who fight along with God on Israel’s behalf (cf. Jgs 5:20), or perhaps a reference to the awesome goddesses of the region who combined aspects of both fertility and war.

He

You are as beautiful as Tirzah,(A) my darling,
    as lovely as Jerusalem,(B)
    as majestic as troops with banners.(C)
Turn your eyes from me;
    they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from Gilead.(D)
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
    not one of them is missing.(E)

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