Song of Songs 4:1-7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 4
The Beauty of the Woman
1 M(A), (B) How beautiful you are, my friend,
how beautiful you are!
Your eyes are doves
behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gilead.[a]
2 Your teeth[b] are like a flock of ewes to be shorn,
that come up from the washing,
All of them big with twins,
none of them barren.
3 Like a scarlet strand, your lips,
and your mouth—lovely!
Like pomegranate[c] halves, your cheeks
behind your veil.
4 (C)Like a tower of David, your neck,
built in courses,
A thousand shields hanging upon it,
all the armor of warriors.[d]
5 (D)Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle
feeding among the lilies.
6 (E)Until the day grows cool
and the shadows flee,
I shall go to the mountain of myrrh,
to the hill of frankincense.[e]
7 You are beautiful in every way, my friend,
there is no flaw in you![f]
Footnotes
- 4:1 This section (vv. 1–7) begins a wasf, a traditional poetic form describing the physical attributes of one’s partner in terms of the natural world (cf. 5:10–16; 6:5b–7; 7:1–7). Veil: women of the region customarily veiled their faces for some occasions (cf. 4:3; 6:7; Gn 24:65–67; 38:14–19).
- 4:2 Teeth: praised for whiteness and evenness.
- 4:3 Pomegranate: a fruit with a firm skin and deep red color. The woman’s cheek (or perhaps her brow) is compared, in roundness and tint, to a half-pomegranate.
- 4:4 The ornaments about her neck are compared to the trophies and armaments on the city walls. Cf. 1 Kgs 10:10; 14:26–28; Ez 27:10.
- 4:6 Mountain of myrrh…hill of frankincense: spoken figuratively of the woman; cf. 8:14.
- 4:7 Cf. the description of the church in Eph 5:27.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.