Song of Songs 4-6

New International Version

4 How beautiful you are, my darling!
    Oh, how beautiful!
    Your eyes behind your veil^(A) are doves.^(B)
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from the hills of Gilead.^(C)
2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
    not one of them is alone.^(D)
3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
    your mouth^(E) is lovely.^(F)
Your temples behind your veil
    are like the halves of a pomegranate.^(G)
4 Your neck is like the tower^(H) of David,
    built with courses of stone^[a];
on it hang a thousand shields,^(I)
    all of them shields of warriors.
⁵ Your breasts^(J) are like two fawns,
    like twin fawns of a gazelle^(K)
    that browse among the lilies.^(L)
6 Until the day breaks
    and the shadows flee,^(M)
I will go to the mountain of myrrh^(N)
    and to the hill of incense.
⁷ You are altogether beautiful,^(O) my darling;
    there is no flaw^(P) in you.

¹⁶ Awake, north wind,
    and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,^(AM)
    that its fragrance^(AN) may spread everywhere.
Let my beloved^(AO) come into his garden
    and taste its choice fruits.^(AP)

5 I have come into my garden,^(AQ) my sister, my bride;^(AR)
    I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
    I have drunk my wine and my milk.^(AS)

Eat, friends, and drink;
    drink your fill of love.

² I slept but my heart was awake.
    Listen! My beloved is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
    my dove,^(AT) my flawless^(AU) one.^(AV)
My head is drenched with dew,
    my hair with the dampness of the night.”
³ I have taken off my robe—
    must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
    must I soil them again?
⁴ My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
    my heart began to pound for him.
⁵ I arose to open for my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,^(AW)
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened for my beloved,^(AX)
    but my beloved had left; he was gone.^(AY)
    My heart sank at his departure.^[c]
I looked^(AZ) for him but did not find him.
    I called him but he did not answer.
⁷ The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.^(BA)
They beat me, they bruised me;
    they took away my cloak,
    those watchmen of the walls!
⁸ Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you^(BB)—
    if you find my beloved,^(BC)
what will you tell him?
    Tell him I am faint with love.^(BD)

⁹ How is your beloved better than others,
    most beautiful of women?^(BE)
How is your beloved better than others,
    that you so charge us?

¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
    outstanding among ten thousand.^(BF)
11 His head is purest gold;
    his hair is wavy
    and black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves^(BG)
    by the water streams,
washed in milk,^(BH)
    mounted like jewels.
¹³ His cheeks^(BI) are like beds of spice^(BJ)
    yielding perfume.
His lips are like lilies^(BK)
    dripping with myrrh.^(BL)
14 His arms are rods of gold
    set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
    decorated with lapis lazuli.^(BM)
15 His legs are pillars of marble
    set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,^(BN)
    choice as its cedars.
¹⁶ His mouth^(BO) is sweetness itself;
    he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved,^(BP) this is my friend,
    daughters of Jerusalem.^(BQ)

6 Where has your beloved^(BR) gone,
    most beautiful of women?^(BS)
Which way did your beloved turn,
    that we may look for him with you?

² My beloved has gone^(BT) down to his garden,^(BU)
    to the beds of spices,^(BV)
to browse in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.
³ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;^(BW)
    he browses among the lilies.^(BX)

⁴ You are as beautiful as Tirzah,^(BY) my darling,
    as lovely as Jerusalem,^(BZ)
    as majestic as troops with banners.^(CA)
5 Turn your eyes from me;
    they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from Gilead.^(CB)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
    not one of them is missing.^(CC)
7 Your temples behind your veil^(CD)
    are like the halves of a pomegranate.^(CE)
8 Sixty queens^(CF) there may be,
    and eighty concubines,^(CG)
    and virgins beyond number;
⁹ but my dove,^(CH) my perfect one,^(CI) is unique,
    the only daughter of her mother,
    the favorite of the one who bore her.^(CJ)
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    the queens and concubines praised her.

¹⁰ Who is this that appears like the dawn,
    fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
    majestic as the stars in procession?

¹¹ I went down to the grove of nut trees
    to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see if the vines had budded
    or the pomegranates were in bloom.^(CK)
12 Before I realized it,
    my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.^[d]

¹³ Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
    come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
    as on the dance^(CL) of Mahanaim?^[e]