Song of Solomon 4 DBY
Summary: Solomon delivers an extended head-to-foot praise poem (a wasf) of the bride's beauty: eyes like doves, hair like a flock of goats streaming down Gilead, teeth like shorn, twinned ewes, lips like a scarlet thread, cheeks like halves of a pomegranate, and a neck like the tower of David hung with shields. Calling her "my sister, my bride" (v. 9-12), he describes her as a locked garden and a sealed spring, and the garden imagery blossoms into a catalog of spices — nard, saffron, cinnamon, myrrh, and aloes. The chapter closes with her voice inviting the north and south winds to blow upon her garden so its fragrance may spread, and calling her beloved to come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits.
1Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are doves behind thy veil; Thy hair is as a flock of goats, On the slopes of mount Gilead.
2Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, Which go up from the washing; Which have all borne twins, And none is barren among them.
3Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, And thy speech is comely; As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples Behind thy veil.
4Thy neck is like the tower of David, Built for an armoury: A thousand bucklers hang thereon, All shields of mighty men.
5Thy two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, Which feed among the lilies.
6Until the day dawn, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, And to the hill of frankincense.
7Thou art all fair, my love; And there is no spot in thee.
8[Come] with me, from Lebanon, [my] spouse, With me from Lebanon, — Come, look from the top of Amanah, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions' dens, From the mountains of the leopards.
9Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, [my] spouse; Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck.
10How fair is thy love, my sister, [my] spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! And the fragrance of thine ointments than all spices!
11Thy lips, [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.
12A garden enclosed is my sister, [my] spouse; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
13Thy shoots are a paradise of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants;
14Spikenard and saffron; Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
15A fountain in the gardens, A well of living waters, Which stream from Lebanon.
16Awake, north wind, and come, [thou] south; Blow upon my garden, [that] the spices thereof may flow forth. Let my beloved come into his garden, And eat its precious fruits.
Also read this chapter in: KJV, WEB, ASV, WYC, GNV, WBT, YLT