Song of Solomon 4 WBT
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; thou [hast] doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair [is] as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
2Thy teeth [are] like a flock [of sheep that are even] shorn, which came up from the washing; all of which bear twins, and none [is] barren among them.
3Thy lips [are] like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech [is] comely: thy temples [are] like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks.
4Thy neck [is] like the tower of David built for an armory, on which hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.
5Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
6Until the day shall break, and the shadows flee away, I will repair to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
7Thou [art] all fair, my love; [there is] no spot in thee.
8Come 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.
9Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, [my] spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thy 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 smell of thy ointments than all spices!
11Thy lips, O [my] spouse, drop [as] the honey-comb; honey and milk [are] under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments [is] like the smell of Lebanon.
12A garden inclosed [is] my sister, [my] spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
13Thy plants [are] an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphor, with spikenard,
14Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
15A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.
16Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, [that] its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
Also read this chapter in: KJV, WEB, ASV, WYC, GNV, DBY, YLT