Song of Solomon 4; Song of Solomon 5

1 How beautiful you are, my love! How your eyes shine with love behind your veil. Your hair dances like a flock of goats bounding down the hills of Gilead.

2 Your teeth are as white as sheep that have just been shorn and washed. Not one of them is missing; they are all perfectly matched.

3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; how lovely they are when you speak. Your cheeks glow behind your veil.

4 Your neck is like the tower of David, round and smooth, with a necklace like a thousand shields hung around it.

5 Your breasts are like gazelles, twin deer feeding among lilies.

6 I will stay on the hill of myrrh, the hill of incense, until the morning breezes blow and the darkness disappears.

7 How beautiful you are, my love; how perfect you are!

8 Come with me from the Lebanon Mountains, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Come down from the top of Mount Amana, from Mount Senir and Mount Hermon, where the lions and leopards live.

9 The look in your eyes, my sweetheart and bride, and the necklace you are wearing have stolen my heart.

10 Your love delights me, my sweetheart and bride. Your love is better than wine; your perfume more fragrant than any spice.

11 The taste of honey is on your lips, my darling; your tongue is milk and honey for me. Your clothing has all the fragrance of Lebanon.

12 My sweetheart, my bride, is a secret garden, a walled garden, a private spring;

13 there the plants flourish. They grow like an orchard of pomegranate trees and bear the finest fruits. There is no lack of henna and nard,

14 of saffron, calamus, and cinnamon, or incense of every kind. Myrrh and aloes grow there with all the most fragrant perfumes.

15 Fountains water the garden, streams of flowing water, brooks gushing down from the Lebanon Mountains.

16 Wake up, North Wind. South Wind, blow on my garden; fill the air with fragrance. Let my lover come to his garden and eat the best of its fruits.

1 I have entered my garden, my sweetheart, my bride. I am gathering my spices and myrrh; I am eating my honey and honeycomb; I am drinking my wine and milk. Eat, lovers, and drink until you are drunk with love!

2 While I slept, my heart was awake. I dreamed my lover knocked at the door. Let me come in, my darling, my sweetheart, my dove. My head is wet with dew, and my hair is damp from the mist.

3 I have already undressed; why should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet; why should I get them dirty again?

4 My lover put his hand to the door, and I was thrilled that he was near.

5 I was ready to let him come in. My hands were covered with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, as I grasped the handle of the door.

6 I opened the door for my lover, but he had already gone. How I wanted to hear his voice! I looked for him, but couldn't find him; I called to him, but heard no answer.

7 The sentries patrolling the city found me; they struck me and bruised me; the guards at the city wall tore off my cape.

8 Promise me, women of Jerusalem, that if you find my lover, you will tell him I am weak from passion.

9 Most beautiful of women, is your lover different from everyone else? What is there so wonderful about him that we should give you our promise?

10 My lover is handsome and strong; he is one in ten thousand.

11 His face is bronzed and smooth; his hair is wavy, black as a raven.

12 His eyes are as beautiful as doves by a flowing brook, doves washed in milk and standing by the stream.

13 His cheeks are as lovely as a garden that is full of herbs and spices. His lips are like lilies, wet with liquid myrrh.

14 His hands are well-formed, and he wears rings set with gems. His body is like smooth ivory, with sapphires set in it.

15 His thighs are columns of alabaster set in sockets of gold. He is majestic, like the Lebanon Mountains with their towering cedars.

16 His mouth is sweet to kiss; everything about him enchants me. This is what my lover is like, women of Jerusalem.