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.
Song of Songs 4:1-7
New International Version
He
4 How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil(A) are doves.(B)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from the hills of Gilead.(C)
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.(D)
3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
your mouth(E) is lovely.(F)
Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.(G)
4 Your neck is like the tower(H) of David,
built with courses of stone[a];
on it hang a thousand shields,(I)
all of them shields of warriors.
5 Your breasts(J) are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle(K)
that browse among the lilies.(L)
6 Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,(M)
I will go to the mountain of myrrh(N)
and to the hill of incense.
7 You are altogether beautiful,(O) my darling;
there is no flaw(P) in you.
Footnotes
- Song of Songs 4:4 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
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