The Bridegroom Praises the Bride's Beauty
Study note
The bridegroom describes his bride's beauty using poetic images from the natural world. In ancient Hebrew poetry, comparing a woman's features to things in nature was the highest form of praise. Her eyes are gentle like doves behind her veil. Her hair flows like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead. Her teeth are white and perfectly matched. Her lips are bright scarlet, and her cheeks glow like the inside of a pomegranate. Her neck is strong and graceful like a decorated tower. He declares she is completely beautiful with no flaw at all.
1 You take my breath away, my love! You are stunning! Behind your veil, your eyes are as gentle as doves. Your hair cascades down like a flock of goats streaming along the slopes of Mount Gilead. Behold, 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.
2 Your smile is dazzling, your teeth as white as freshly washed sheep. Every tooth has its perfect match, and not a single one is out of place. Thy 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.
3 Your lips are vivid like a scarlet ribbon, and the words they form are lovely. Behind your veil, your cheeks glow with the rich color of a pomegranate. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.
4 Your neck is as beautiful and strong as the tower of David. It is covered with a thousand shields that belonged to mighty warriors. Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.
5 You are like two matching fawns, twin deer grazing peacefully among the lilies. Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
6 I will go to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. I will stay there through the night until dawn comes and the shadows fade away. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
7 Every part of you is beautiful, my love. There is not a single flaw anywhere. Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.
An Invitation to Come Away
Study note
The bridegroom calls his bride to come away with him from Lebanon, a mountainous region in the north known for its tall cedar trees and wild animals. He calls her 'my sister, my bride,' which was a common term of closeness and devotion in ancient love poetry, not a reference to a blood relative. He says she has captured his heart with just one glance. He compares her love to the finest wine and her fragrance to the sweet scent of Lebanon's forests.
8 Come away with me from Lebanon, my bride. Journey with me from Lebanon! Look down from the summit of Amana, from the peaks of Senir and Hermon, from where the lions have their dens and leopards roam the heights. Come 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.
9 You have completely stolen my heart, my sister, my bride. One look from your eyes, one sparkle from your necklace, and my heart was gone. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
10 Your love is exquisite, my sister, my bride! Your love is more delightful than the richest wine, and the fragrance you carry is lovelier than any spice. How 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!
11 Sweetness drips from your lips like honey from a comb, my bride. The taste of honey and milk is on your tongue, and your clothing carry the fresh scent of Lebanon's forests. Thy 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.
A Garden Locked and a Fountain Sealed
Study note
The bridegroom compares his bride to a private, locked garden and a sealed fountain. In the dry land of ancient Israel, a private spring of water was extremely valuable. This image celebrates the bride's purity and faithfulness, reserved only for her beloved. The garden overflows with the finest fruits and the most precious spices of the ancient world, including henna, nard, saffron, cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh, and aloes. The bride then speaks in verse 16, inviting the winds to blow through her garden so its fragrance may reach her beloved.
12 You, my sister, my bride, are like a private, enclosed garden, a spring that is sealed up, a fountain reserved for me alone. A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
13 Inside your garden grows a paradise of pomegranates with the rarest fruits, henna plants and fragrant nard, Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
14 She is like nard and saffron, aromatic cane and cinnamon. She is like every type of frankincense tree, plus myrrh and aloes. She has the finest spices you can find. Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
15 You are like a fountain in a garden, a well of pure, living water flowing down fresh from Lebanon. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.
16 Rise up, north wind! Blow in, south wind! Sweep through my garden and carry its beautiful fragrance far and wide. Let my beloved come and enjoy the very best fruits his garden has to offer. Awake, 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.