English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
1
You're so beautiful, my darling, so beautiful, and your dove eyes are veiled By your hair as it flows and shimmers, like a flock of goats in the distance streaming down a hillside in the sunshine.
2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young.
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Your smile is generous and full - expressive and strong and clean.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
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Your lips are jewel red, your mouth elegant and inviting, your veiled cheeks soft and radiant.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors.
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The smooth, lithe lines of your neck command notice - all heads turn in awe and admiration!
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that graze among the lilies.
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Your breasts are like fawns, twins of a gazelle, grazing among the first spring flowers.
6 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.
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The sweet, fragrant curves of your body, the soft, spiced contours of your flesh Invite me, and I come. I stay until dawn breathes its light and night slips away.
7 You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.
7
You're beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.
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Come with me from Lebanon, my bride. Leave Lebanon behind, and come. Leave your high mountain hideaway. Abandon your wilderness seclusion, Where you keep company with lions and panthers guard your safety.
9 You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.
9
You've captured my heart, dear friend. You looked at me, and I fell in love. One look my way and I was hopelessly in love!
10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
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How beautiful your love, dear, dear friend - far more pleasing than a fine, rare wine, your fragrance more exotic than select spices.
11 Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
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The kisses of your lips are honey, my love, every syllable you speak a delicacy to savor. Your clothes smell like the wild outdoors, the ozone scent of high mountains.
12 A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed.
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Dear lover and friend, you're a secret garden, a private and pure fountain.
13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard,
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Body and soul, you are paradise, a whole orchard of succulent fruits - Ripe apricots and peaches, oranges and pears; Nut trees and cinnamon, and all scented woods;
14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all choice spices--
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Mint and lavender, and all herbs aromatic;
15 a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.
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A garden fountain, sparkling and splashing, fed by spring waters from the Lebanon mountains.
16 Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow.Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.
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Wake up, North Wind, get moving, South Wind! Breathe on my garden, fill the air with spice fragrance. Oh, let my lover enter his garden! Yes, let him eat the fine, ripe fruits.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.