Song of Solomon, 4

1. LOVER: How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves, behind your veil; your hair is like a flock of goats surging down Mount Gilead.

1. Behold, thou [art] fair, my love; behold, thou [art] fair; thou [hast] doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair [is] as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.

2. Your teeth, a flock of sheep to be shorn when they come up from the washing. Each one has its twin, not one unpaired with another.

2. Thy teeth [are] like a flock [of sheep that are even] shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none [is] barren among them.

3. Your lips are a scarlet thread and your words enchanting. Your cheeks, behind your veil, are halves of pomegranate.

3. Thy lips [are] like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech [is] comely: thy temples [are] like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.

4. Your neck is the Tower of David built on layers, hung round with a thousand bucklers, and each the shield of a hero.

4. Thy neck [is] like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.

5. Your two breasts are two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.

5. Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.

6. Before the day-breeze rises, before the shadows flee, I shall go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.

6. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

7. You are wholly beautiful, my beloved, and without a blemish.

7. Thou [art] all fair, my love; [there is] no spot in thee.

8. Come from Lebanon, my promised bride, come from Lebanon, come on your way. Look down from the heights of Amanus, from the crests of Senir and Hermon, the haunt of lions, the mountains of leopards.

8. Come with me from Lebanon, [my] spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

9. You ravish my heart, my sister, my promised bride, you ravish my heart with a single one of your glances, with a single link of your necklace.

9. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, [my] spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

10. What spells lie in your love, my sister, my promised bride! How delicious is your love, more delicious than wine! How fragrant your perfumes, more fragrant than all spices!

10. How fair is thy love, my sister, [my] spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!

11. Your lips, my promised bride, distil wild honey. Honey and milk are under your tongue; and the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.

11. Thy lips, O [my] spouse, drop [as] the honeycomb: honey and milk [are] under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments [is] like the smell of Lebanon.

12. She is a garden enclosed, my sister, my promised bride; a garden enclosed, a sealed fountain.

12. A garden inclosed [is] my sister, [my] spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

13. Your shoots form an orchard of pomegranate trees, bearing most exquisite fruit:

13. Thy plants [are] an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,

14. nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the incense-bearing trees; myrrh and aloes, with the subtlest odours.

14. Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

15. Fountain of the garden, well of living water, streams flowing down from Lebanon!

15. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

16. BELOVED: Awake, north wind, come, wind of the south! Breathe over my garden, to spread its sweet smell around. Let my love come into his garden, let him taste its most exquisite fruits.

16. Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, [that] the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.