Song of Solomon 4, side by side

¹How beautiful you are, my darling— how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.

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.

²Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin, and not one of them is lost.

²Thy 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.

³Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

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

⁴Your neck is like the tower of David, built with rows of stones; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors.

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

⁵Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.

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

⁶Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

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

⁷You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw.

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

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon! Descend from the peak of Amana, from the summits of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.

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.

⁹You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.

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 delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! Your love is much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices.

¹⁰How 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!

¹¹Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon.

¹¹Thy 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.

¹²My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.

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

¹³Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard,

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

¹⁴with nard and saffron, with calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of frankincense tree, with myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices.

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

¹⁵You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon.

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

¹⁶Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Breathe on my garden and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choicest fruits.

¹⁶Awake, 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.