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Chapter 4

The Beauty of the Woman

M(A), (B) How beautiful you are, my friend,
    how beautiful you are!
Your eyes are doves
    behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    streaming down Mount Gilead.[a]
Your teeth[b] are like a flock of ewes to be shorn,
    that come up from the washing,
All of them big with twins,
    none of them barren.
Like a scarlet strand, your lips,
    and your mouth—lovely!
Like pomegranate[c] halves, your cheeks
    behind your veil.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:1 This section (vv. 1–7) begins a wasf, a traditional poetic form describing the physical attributes of one’s partner in terms of the natural world (cf. 5:10–16; 6:5b–7; 7:1–7). Veil: women of the region customarily veiled their faces for some occasions (cf. 4:3; 6:7; Gn 24:65–67; 38:14–19).
  2. 4:2 Teeth: praised for whiteness and evenness.
  3. 4:3 Pomegranate: a fruit with a firm skin and deep red color. The woman’s cheek (or perhaps her brow) is compared, in roundness and tint, to a half-pomegranate.